clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Lightning's Ryan Malone doesn't want to wear a visor

Ryan Malone took a stick to the face from Marty St. Louis, but five stitches in his eyebrow and a black eye aren't enough to make him rethink not wearing a visor.

Rich Lam

Ryan Malone has no interest in wearing a visor, reports the Tampa Bay Times, even considering a recent unintentional high stick from Martin St. Louis. Malone was skating with teammates at the Ice Sports Forum in Brandon, showing off five stitches in his eyebrow and a black eye.

St. Louis and Tampa Bay Lightning captain Vincent Lecavalier are among the players who have added a visor to their helmet in an attempt to avoid further facial injury. They're among the majority in the league: recent polls have shown nearly 70 percent of players wear a visor, up from 28 percent in 2001-2002, with even higher rates among incoming rookies.

Malone isn't interested, and by the sound of it that won't change any time soon. "At least it didn't hit my eye," he said of the high-stick, and he also pointed out that a visor might have deflected the stick directly into his eye.

Check out the SB Nation Channel on YouTube

Photographs by cstreet.us, thelastminute, turtlemom nancy , fesek, kthypryn, justinwright, sue_elias, pointnshoot, and scrapstothefuture used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.