Duncan Keith, the reigning Conn Smythe winner, however, will be on the shelf for the next four to six weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a torn right meniscus according to the team.

Keith had appeared in all six of Chicago's games this season. He notched two assists and has averaged over 24 minutes of ice time a night.

The team's workhorse defenseman is going to be relied on heavily this season due to the relative shallowness of Chicago's defense. The team is also without veteran Michal Rozsival who continues progressing in recovery from an injury sustained last postseason.

Over his career, the Blackhawks' alternate captain has logged an average of 25-plus minutes of ice time. Additionally, Keith has been an incredibly durable defenseman for the club. He has never missed more than eight games in a season until now.

Keith has averaged nearly four more minutes of ice time than his next closest teammate so far this year, which means Brent Seabrook and Niklas Hjalmarsson should see their workloads increase significantly. Trevor Daley, who has had some early struggles early on, will also probably see his ice time feature more high-leverage situations. Young defensemen Trevor van Riemsdyk, David Rundblad and Viktor Svedberg are all going to have to step up in some way as well if Chicago has to weather this storm without Keith.