Not through injury or loss of form but because of the wants of All Black management.
All Black coach Steve Hansen has come to an agreement with the Super Rugby coaches and franchises that all All Blacks must miss two games before the test series against France next month.
The Highlanders have five matches left before the June break when the All Blacks play France in three tests.
Of the side's All Blacks from last year, only the two Liams - Squire and Coltman - have already missed the required games.
Squire has been laid low by a broken thumb, and has started only three matches, while Coltman missed the opening game because of a delayed return from a serious ankle injury he picked up last year. He also missed a match after picking up a concussion in the previous match.
But All Blacks Ben Smith, Dillon Hunt and Luke Whitelock have started all eight games for the Highlanders.
Halfback Aaron Smith has started seven games, coming off the bench against the Blues.
Ben Smith was on the right wing last week to cover for an injured Waisake Naholo, who missed the game because of a sore hamstring.
Naholo has missed only this match so will have to miss another one in the next five games.
The Highlanders this morning named their side to play the Sharks in Durban on Sunday morning.
After playing the Sharks, the Highlanders head home to take on the Lions at Forsyth Barr Stadium on May 12.
The following two games are in Australia. The match against the Waratahs in Sydney on May 20 is followed by a clash against the Reds in Brisbane on May 27.
The team will stay in Australia during this time and it is these two games that the Highlanders will look to use to rest their All Blacks.
There is a three-day All Black camp starting on May 21, which all of the 33-man squad has to attend. The squad is set to be named on May 20.
Those All Blacks selected - and the two Smiths, Whitelock and Naholo seem certainties - will be away from the team in Australia for the bulk of the week so will be unlikely to play against the Reds.
Sides stress very much these days all team members need to be involved in the build-up to the week so the All Blacks are not likely to be sighted in Brisbane.
The side will return to New Zealand to play the Hurricanes in a vital game on June 1 at the stadium. An All Black camp will precede this game on the first three days of the week but both sides are likely to want to have full-strength teams for this important encounter.
The Highlanders have two other players who have started all eight games - lock Jackson Hemopo and first five-eighth Lima Sopoaga. Sopoaga was an All Black last year but is not subject to the two-match rest as he is heading to England at the end of the Super Rugby season.