Late Tuesday, Lubomir Visnovsky’s agent confirmed via Twitter that his client would be returning to the New York Islanders after tending to “personal reasons” that have kept him from coming to North America.
Those personal reasons, it turns out, are related to Visnovsky’s son.
The 36-year-old defenseman confirmed to pluska.sk that his son has “health issues.” Fortunately, he says the issues aren’t very serious, but they will still take some time to resolve.
Visnovsky was hoping to play the entire season in his native Slovakia with his hometown team Bratislava; however, his request was rejected due to an agreement between the KHL and NHL that says each league must honor the other’s contracts.
Visnovsky is signed with the Islanders through the end of the season.
Newsday is reporting it could take him 2-3 weeks before he’s able to report to the Isles.