Edmonton Oilers forward Taylor Hall has only played five games against Columbus but there have been some memorable ones vs. the Central Division team. It’s against the Blue Jackets that he scored his first NHL goal on Oct.28, 2010. It was also against the Blue Jackets that he was involved in his first NHL fight. Hall fought Derek Dorsett on March 3, 2011. It was during that scrap that Hall suffered a season-ending ankle injury. Things he won’t soon forget. However it’s a game that the winger didn’t play against Columbus that has become the most memorable one for all the wrong reasons.
On January 17, 2012 during warm up at Nationwide Arena, the Oilers first-overall pick lost an edge. He bumped into Ladislav Smid. They both fell to the ice and slid towards the boards. They were right in the path of Corey Potter who tried to jump over them. In a gruesome moment Potter’s skate blade caught Hall in the forehead and he was cut very badly. The slice took 30 stitches to be sewn up and Hall missed two games.
“I don’t worry about it or think about it when I come back here,” said Hall. “Plus I wear a helmet in warm up now.” In fact the Oilers instituted a mandatory policy for helmets to be worn since the incident involving Hall.
There’s no way to sugarcoat it when describing what the cut looked like two days after the incident when Hall spoke about it for a first time. The cut was back into his hairline and made its way down the left side of his forehead almost like a lightning bolt. As permanent as it looked just over a year ago it’s amazing the transformation that’s been made. The scar has gone from impossible to miss to nearly impossible to see.
“I’m pretty happy with the way things have gone,” said Hall. “I really didn’t do a lot. I went and had two or three laser treatments on it. I should have went back for more and didn’t. I also put some cream on it but I didn’t do it as often as I was supposed to.”
Despite the fact Hall — after it happened — didn’t give the scar much attention, the healing process was helped out naturally. “I did get a lot of sun and that seemed to help it heal,” explained Hall. “Sometimes when I have a tan the cut looks a little white or red but otherwise I don’t notice it.”
It’s to the point where you can stare at the exact area where the scar once was and not know it was there unless you were aware of what originally happened. An amazing recovery for a young man who always kept an open mind about the incident. “I play hockey it (scars) happens all the time.” Maybe it does but Hall doesn’t want it ever happen again and he’s got a helmet in warm up to prove it.