Deputy commissioner Bill Daly reiterated that belief in an email to The Associated Press a day after briefing the NHL\u2019s board of governors on the Olympics during their meeting in Colorado Springs, Colorado.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re making progress and moving towards the goal, but there doesn\u2019t seem to be anything insurmountable in getting to completion,\u201d Daly told reporters on Monday.<\/p>\n
Daly said there\u2019s nothing the NHL or organizers can do about the dimensions of the not-yet-completed 16,000-seat Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena and secondary Rho facility. \u201cIt\u2019s a structural issue. It would be impossible to correct,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
What can still be addressed is ensuring the ice quality is safe for players, with Daly saying Olympic officials are taking up the NHL\u2019s offer to use their experts to assist once the ice surface is scheduled to be laid in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re basically moving everybody there to try to help get this done in a way that\u2019s acceptable for NHL athletes,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m cautiously optimistic that\u2019s all going to be fruitful.\u201d<\/p>\n At this point,\u00a0with the Games less than two months away<\/a>, Daly said the only issue that would prevent the NHL from returning to Olympic participation for the first time since the 2014 Sochi Games would be safety concerns due to the ice surface.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, if the players feel like the ice is unsafe, we\u2019re not going to play. It\u2019s as simple as that,\u201d Daly said. \u201cSo whatever flows from that, flows from that. I\u2019m not really all that concerned about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Daly said the completion date of the main rink is set for Feb. 2, three days before the women\u2019s tournament opens and nine days before the men begin play.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/TAP-Subscribe-ad.jpg\")
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