First of all, old business. I asked Lubomir Visnovsky about that infamous summer interview, in which he was quoted as saying coach Marc Crawford had a “Communist style” and other unflattering things. Lubo told me that he never even spoke to the person who wrote that story. He said he did an interview with a television station and, in so many words, that his comments were twisted and used improperly. When I asked Lubo to clarify what he was saying, he said that Crawford is a coach who yells a lot, and it’s a different experience for him as a European player because coaches usually don’t have that style over there. Anyway, who knows, but Lubo seemed genuinely perplexed about the whole thing. He said someone had e-mailed the story to him and he was concerned that Crawford had read it and got the wrong impression.
Visnovsky is still kind of a tough interview, but his English is getting a lot better. I wish he was fluent, because he’s truly a funny guy with a lot of personality. But it’s still a little rough, so I’ll be doing some paraphrasing here.
He said that after his broken foot, he didn’t skate again until August, but that he spent a lot of time working with his conditioning coach. It looks that way, because Visnovsky appears to be in great shape in training camp. He said he will be 100 percent for the start of the season.
“For the first game in the NHL, you’re 100 percent. In the second game it’s 99 percent and then it’s less and less,” Visnovsky joked.
He also expressed great satisfaction with the five-year contract extension he signed this summer.
“It’s good,” Visnovsky said. “Now I can focus just on hockey and I want to help this team win.”
Visnovsky seemed most pleased with the addition of countrymen Michal Handzus and Ladislav Nagy. Visnovsky had been close with Pavol Demitra and was extremely disappointed when the Kings traded Demitra.
“It’s better for me, because we speak the same language,” Visnovsky said. “It’s good to go on the road and speak to someone in my own language. Or sometimes if we lose the game, we can discuss.”
Finally,Visnovsky was asked about the trip to Europe, and how many friends he might have joining him there. Visnovsky said the trip is being greatly anticipated in Slovakia and said that he expected a couple thousand Slovakians to attend the games in London.
“I have lots of friends asking for tickets,” Visnovsky said. “That’s tough for me. I need tickets for family.”
As a side note, Visnovsky said his brother (two years older) is playing in Slovakia’s pro league, on the same team as former Kings forward Ziggy Palffy.
