Visnovsky travels with KHL team for Tuesday’s game

Lubomir Visnovsky‘s agent said he’d play for the New York Islanders if he has to, but it looks like he’s still holding out.

Visnovsky won’t join the Islanders Monday morning due to “personal reasons,” according to ESPN’s Katie Strang.

What are those personal reasons? Well it might be related to the fact that he’s traveling with the KHL’s Slovan Bratislava to Prague for their game on Tuesday, based on TV NOVA Sport’s Roman Jedlicka report.

The 36-year-old defenseman has has made it very clear that he’d rather play for Slovan Bratislava, but he’s still under contract with the Islanders. They still want him and recently booked him a flight, but Visnovsky didn’t get on the plane.

The Isladners can suspend Visnovsky if he refuses to play and either way, he might not be allowed to stay in the KHL.

“The KHL has repeatedly said that they will not permit him to play, so I guess we will have to see what happens,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said.

That contrasts KHL president Alexander Medvedev’s earlier statement that he will help any NHL player that decides to stay.

And so the saga continues.