Defenseman Marc Staal, who took a hard slap shot to the face in the third period of last night’s victory over the Philadelphia Flyers, is reportedly out indefinitely.

According to Staal’s brother, Eric of the Carolina Hurricanes, they are waiting until the swelling goes down to make a final determination about the extent of Marc’s injury.

The injury re-ignited the debate of player safety in the NHL and what many believe should be a requirement for all players to wear visors.

Marc, Eric, and Jordan do not wear visors.

The following is from a report on NHL.com:

“It’s hard to say now. They’re just waiting for the swelling to go down,” Eric Staal told NHL.com. Eric said he spoke to Marc on Wednesday morning. “He sounded like he was in OK spirits but we don’t know a lot right now. Obviously we’re saying prayers and hoping he dodged a bullet as far as being struck in that area. We’ll know more with some more time.”

Eric said Marc “sounded pretty good” during the phone conversation the two had Wednesday morning.

“But, again, we’re not going to know more until more swelling goes down and what the experts talk to him about, so we’ll see,” Eric said.

Rangers head coach John Tortorella commented after the game that Staal’s injury is “scary” but did not elaborate more on his condition or a possible timetable for his return.