Lubomir Visnovsky pleads his case today to overturn trade to Islanders
Lubomir Visnovsky, acquired by the Islanders on draft night a little more than a month ago, has filed a grievance through the NHL Players’ Association to void the trade from the Ducks, contending that his no-trade clause is still valid and Anaheim never got his permission to make the deal.
Should he win his grievance, the trade that sent him to the Islanders for a 2013 second-round pick would be rescinded, though Visnovsky’s agent told Newsday that the 35-year-old defenseman has no issues with the Isles.
“[General manager Garth Snow] has been great to him, they’ve had good conversations and Lubo likes what he’s heard about how they want to use him,” Neil Sheehy, Visnovsky’s agent, said. “But this has really nothing to do with the Islanders. For Lubo, this is about establishing what’s right and whether a team has the right to move him in the manner that they did.”
Visnovsky signed a five-year, $28-million contract with the Oilers in 2008 and waived his no-trade clause to allow a deal to the Ducks at the 2009-10 trade deadline. Visnovsky contends the Ducks needed his approval, in the form of a 10-team list to which he would allow a trade, this summer. That was never asked for before the June 22 deal.