“I asked him if he was still good looking and he said, ‘Mom, I look like Frankenstein.’ Maybe it will send a message to everyone about how important it is to wear a helmet,” Taylor Hall’s mother, Kim Strba, told the Edmonton Journal. “Maybe it will be a wake-up call. Unfortunately, Taylor is going to be the one remembered for bringing about the change.”
According to reporter Joanne Ireland’s interview with Strba, via phone from the family home in Kingston, Ont., Hall will “definitely” be wearing a helmet when he returns to the Edmonton Oilers lineup.
Hall tripped on a puck during the warm-up prior to the Oilers’ 4-2 loss to the last place Blue Jackets on Tuesday. He knocked down Ladislav Smid and the two slid into the boards, where defenceman Corey Potter accidentally clipped Hall in the forehead with his skate while attempting to jump over them.
The 20-year-old forward was immediately taken to the dressing room, where a plastic surgeon needed 30 stitches to seal a wound that traced from his eyebrow to his scalp.
Strba was contacted by the Oilers immediately after her son’s fluke injury, and Hall spoke with his mother on Wednesday morning. He told her that he had no concussion-like symptoms and that his spirits were reasonably good.
“I think he was thanking his lucky stars. He knows it could have been much worse,” Strba told the Journal. “I’ve seen the video a couple of times on TV. It wasn’t easy to watch.”
As for the winger’s future, Hall took to social media to squash some of the speculation.
“The reports that I’m out for the season aren’t true. I am going to be back as soon as possible. Thanks for all the get well responses,” Hall tweeted Wednesday night. He has yet to return to practise with his team and will not play Thursday night in St. Louis.
Photo by Gene Principe
