In criticisms from the likes of Steve Kerr in the NBA among others, many in the sports world have reacted to Donald Trump’s executive order to restrict border crossings from several Muslim-majority countries.
On the NHL’s side, it’s mostly been silence, with Gary Bettman offering a “no comment” on the matter during the All-Star weekend.
New York Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad ranks as at least one NHL player who is affected - or at least, his family’s been affected - by the controversial executive order, as the New York Daily News’ Justin Tasch reports.
Zibanejad, a 23-year-old Swedish center, has family living in Iran. He seems bewildered by the measures and wonders how he might be able to see them again.
“It hasn’t been easy for them to come here, and this certainly doesn’t make it easier, or even possible at this point,” Zibanejad said. “It’s hard to kind of comment on. I don’t want to get in too deep, but it seems like it’s very straightforward and they have very straight lines of what the deal is, but I find still they’re confused about it, still a lot of confusion about what’s wrong and what’s not.”
For what it’s worth, Zibanejad was able to travel internationally without incident during the All-Star break, according to Tasch.
Head to NBC News for far more on the fallout from that executive order.