Grabner: "We're riding this out here"

NHL player Michael Grabner will not return to Austria during the enforced coronavirus break, but will remain in the USA.

"If I flew home, I would have to go into quarantine for two weeks. What am I supposed to do there? I will simply wait it out here in Arizona. There is still talk of the season being continued this year. Here at my house, I can move around, have a gym, a garden, a pool and can play with my children. And, to be honest, I don't want to catch this virus on the journey home and then possibly pass it on to my parents," the Carinthian explains in the "Kleine Zeitung".

In addition, his wife Heather does not have an Austrian passport, while Grabner himself does not have a US passport: "It is all too vague, too uncertain for me. That is why we decided to maintain the status quo and ride this out here."

From a sporting perspective, it has been a difficult season for Grabner. Since the end of January, he has only been on the ice in one NHL game, on 10 March in Winnipeg.

"It has not been my most illustrious season personally, but as a team we have not performed too badly. We would certainly have had a good chance of reaching the playoffs. My start was not bad at all, but of course I wanted to score more goals. Then I got injured and afterwards I could no longer find my rhythm." The Carinthian has recorded eight goals and three assists in 46 appearances.