It was an interesting journey to get Pavel Zacha signed. There was a threat to leave for the KHL, and then almost immediately he signed a three-year deal with the New Jersey Devils. Unfortunately, since Zacha is a citizen of the Czech Republic, and he wasn’t technically working in the United States, he’s now having issues with his visa.
Usually, it isn’t hard for athletes to get work visas to play overseas. It becomes pretty clear why they are in the country, and the worries about staying for a nefarious nature usually don’t exist.