NHL

Visnovsky joins Islanders at long last

The Islanders had a long wait for the moment yesterday when a 5-foot-10 Slovakian put on a defenseman’s blue practice sweater, a helmet with the number 11 on the back, and skated with the NHL team to which he is under contract.

Lubomir Visnovsky also had many obstacles to get to this point — some of his own creation — yet there he was, on the ice at the Islanders’ practice facility in Syosset, doing his best to learn everyone’s name, so he doesn’t have to call his teammates “buddy” when he takes the Coliseum ice for tonight’s game against the Sabres.

“I was surprised, all the teammates were good to me,” Visnovsky said. “Everybody was excited to [greet] me and everybody is thinking I can help this team and I want to show that [tonight]. It’s a big game and I’m ready.”

Visnovsky spent the offseason, including the lockout, playing in the Russia-based KHL, for the team based in his native Slovakia. Per the agreement with the NHL, once the lockout ended, Visnovsky could no longer play overseas, yet he stayed home anyway because, he said, his son was in need of medical assistance and will have surgery soon.

The Islanders suspended Visnovsky until he showed up Thursday morning and passed his physical. Now with one practice under his belt, he is preparing to join the lineup.

“I think [people] who know me and who understand me, who have a family, everybody would do the same as what I did,” Visnovsky said. “For me, a family person, I had a problem with my son and I tried to help my family and him and I stayed a little bit longer at home.”

Before that, Visnovsky had tried to fight his draft-day trade from the Ducks to the Islanders because he thought his no-trade clause was being disregarded. The case went to an arbiter and his transfer was upheld.

“We would have loved to have him from the beginning, but he had his reasons,” said Islanders captain and fellow defenseman Mark Streit. “For me, it’s in the past. It’s great he’s here and I think it’s going to be easy for him to make the transition because we have a great team and great chemistry. There’s no hard feelings.”

Coach Jack Capuano threw Visnovsky onto the top power play unit in practice, and he’s hoping the 36-year-old with a $5.6-million salary cap hit can help an offensively limited blue line.

“We look around the league, defensemen score big goals at big times,” Capuano said. “To be able to have another puck mover and get the ‘D’ up in the play is going to help us.”

* Forward Josh Bailey is expected to be back in the lineup tonight after missing the first 10 games following offseason knee surgery. The team suspended Bailey because the injury occurred while playing in Germany during the lockout, but the suspension should be lifted by this morning. … The team put bruising defenseman Matt Carkner on injured reserve with a groin injury.