I'm old enough that I had played a number of years in the local youth league (CAHA, don't know if it's still called that) before they finally required ear protection. Don't know if it was the result of any injury but those took a little getting used to.
Eventually it'll be required. We recently had a pretty scary incident in a Habs/B's game a year or two ago when Phil Danault took a Zdeno Chara one-timer right in the ear and they had to take him off on a stretcher. Even Chara was pretty rattled at the time. If you're gonna block shots and the lower half of your face is already exposed, then I suppose your ears hanging out as well doesn't make a ton of difference, but...I certainly would have them if I had to block shots.
All that said, Avery's a dipshit, though I've always felt Clayton Keller is kind of a perimeter guy. Very talented, but I really never seem to notice him much out there.