The Islanders had already begun skating at training camp yesterday when the scoreboard clock anticlimactically hit 10 a.m. The deadline had passed and Lubomir Visnovsky was nowhere in sight.
Despite being under contract to play on Long Island, the Islanders defenseman remains in his native Slovakia and could be subject to suspension by the team after failing to report yesterday. The team was mum on any action they had taken or were planning to take.
Yet in this ever-evolving drama, it is very possible that Visnovsky shows up at some point.
“I see Lubo playing for the New York Islanders,” his agent, Neil Sheehy, told The Post last night. “But the timing of that, I don’t know.”
It can be surmised Visnovsky is bitter toward the whole NHL system, as he signed a contract extension in 2008 with the Kings — but was traded before it went into effect and eventually was traded three times in four years. The most recent was when the Ducks dealt the 36-year-old defenseman to the Islanders on draft day in June, when he filed an official grievance in hopes of having the trade voided.
The transaction was upheld, and at the time, Visnovsky said he was looking forward to playing out the final year of his contract for the Islanders. He is owed $3 million in salary and carries a $5.6 million salary cap hit this season.
Since then, Visnovsky has cited “personal reasons” for his desire to stay in the KHL, where he plays for his hometown team, HC Slovan Bratislava. But under the terms of agreement between the NHL and the KHL, Visnovsky is prohibited from playing overseas now that the lockout is over.
“Like we’ve said all along, Lubo has nothing against the New York Islanders,” Sheehy said. “He is just going through some personal issues that will come out at the appropriate time.”
Visnovsky was in a picture on the HC Slovan Facebook page yesterday aboard the team bus, which stops for a game today in Prague, but it’s unsure if the defenseman will be allowed to play. If he does, it could create an international incident between the two leagues, with jurisdiction going well above the Islanders’ power.
And with the regular-season set to open Saturday when the Islanders play host to the Devils, there is little time for coach Jack Capuano to fret.
“I’m just going about my business. He’s not here,” Capuano said. “I tell the players, ‘there’s controllable circumstances and there’s uncontrollable circumstances.’ I can’t control it. He’s not here. I just got to worry about the guys we have.”
Capuano said that the team had planned during the off-season for Visnovsky to be a “first-unit power-play guy,” and the coach is now implementing contingency lineups in an already-condensed training camp.
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The Islanders claimed 6-foot-8, 249-pound defenseman Joe Finley off waivers from the Sabres, making room on the roster by putting defenseman Ty Wishart on waivers. If Wishart clears, he’ll return to Bridgeport (AHL), where he played during the lockout.