There is a gray area in this rule forever von xingwangs Blog

Wild coach Bruce Boudreau was upset the NHL allowed Seth Jones to play in the team's game on Tuesday even he sat out the All-Star Game with the flu. Players are supposed to serve a one-game suspension for skipping the midsummer showcase but the league said it requested Jones stay home so as not to risk infection of other players.

"The rule states that if you miss the All-Star Game — no matter what the reason — you miss the next game or you miss the previous game,” Boudreau said. "He played the previous game. He should be missing this game. It’s cut and dry to me.”Sidney Crosby (2015), Alex Ovechkin and Jonathan Toews (2016) and Columbus coach John Tortorella (2017) all served the one-game ban for missing the All-Star festivities https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG-CP4SvuGVxNK0B7pKLR6w  .

"There’s a gray area in this rule forever and ever," Boudreau said. "Because unless they get written doctors reports from everybody now, it’s hard to sit there and say, ‘OK, he’s going to have to miss a game’ if Seth doesn’t miss his game.”I get Boudreau's point and, given the seriousness of this winter's flu outbreak, I get the league's view too. But this should not be precedent setting. What's to say we won't see 15 cases of "flu" around next year's all-stars slated to head to San Jose? The league should stay vigilant on this and enforce the rule hard.