Mika Zibanejad says President Trump’s travel ban has affected his family

Mika Zibanejad of the New York Rangers is Swedish. Google his name and the words “Stockholm, Sweden” pop up under his birth place right there in bold font. Zibanejad has played for Sweden’s under-18 and junior teams, even scoring the golden goal for Sweden in the 2012 World Junior final.

Zibanejad’s father is Iranian, a green card holder living in the United States. On Friday, President Donald Trump instituted a travel ban on citizens from seven countries, including Iran, from entering the United States for 90 days. Zibanejad also has family — a grandmother, aunts, and a handful of cousins — living in Iran.

The Rangers center caught up with the New York Daily News on Monday to talk his family’s situation and what the ban might mean for him.

“It hasn’t been easy for them to come here, and this certainly doesn’t make it easier, or even possible at this point,” Zibanejad said Monday. “It’s hard to kind of comment on. I don’t want to get in too deep, but it seems like it’s very straightforward and they have very straight lines of what the deal is, but I find still they’re confused about it, still a lot of confusion about what’s wrong and what’s not. I guess when a change like this comes very, not from nowhere, but when it comes down like it did, I feel like there was maybe not a whole lot of thought about how to work it out. It seems very straightforward but very confusing about how they deal with it.”

Basically, it’s a confusing time for Zibanejad, who was on vacation in Turks and Caicos during the NHL’s All-Star break when the ban went into effect.

While Zibanejad had no issues getting back into the United States, his thoughts have mainly been on his family, according to the Daily News.

“It’s unfortunate that it’s been very hard to kind of find a way to see them, an easy way for both parts,” he said. “Obviously being here now and living here doesn’t make it easier. That sucks, but I can’t comment more of how things are. Right now it just sucks. The more further this goes and we see what kind of solution we come to, then it’s easier to kind of comment on.”

Zibanejad himself isn’t “too worried” about the ban restricting his travel accommodations with the Rangers, as he is registered as a Swedish citizen.

The NHL might not have much of a problem with the travel ban either. While teams travel between the United States and Canada weekly, only players from 16 countries make up the NHL, and none are a part of the ban.

Unlike the NBA, the NHL and league commissioner Gary Bettman have yet to come out with a stance on the travel ban. According to the Toronto Star, the NHL is aware of the issues and is “monitoring” the situation, deputy commissioner Bill Daly said over the weekend.