"The Blues have no plans to require their players to wear helmets during the pregame skate, an issue that has come to light after a serious injury involving Edmonton's Taylor Hall.

Hall was not in the lineup Thursday night at Scottrade Center, but did speak with reporters, two days after needing 30 stitches to close up a gap that stretched to his hairline from just above his left eye. Hall tripped over a puck and after colliding with teammate Ladislav Smid, another teammate, Corey Potter, inadvertently stepped on Hall's forehead.

"It doesn't look good, that's for sure," Hall said. "What can you do? You can say that I'm lucky that I didn't get my eye taken out or my throat sliced or I'm just unlucky because something like this has never happened in the history of the sport with helmet guys that have not worn a helmet in warm-ups."

While some NHL teams are considering requiring their players wear helmets in the wake of the injury, Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said there are no such plans for his club.

"My own belief is, you can't guard against everything," he said. "If they asked me, I'd encourage them to wear them, but it's not something that we've talked about mandating. We don't have very many players that don't use them. They understand the ramifications and the risk ... it's their careers. But it's something that I wouldn't go in there and try to cause an issue about midseason.""