{"id":338550,"date":"2025-12-09T07:36:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T07:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/338550\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T07:36:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T07:36:07","slug":"nhl-deputy-commissioner-bill-daly-on-ice-quality-concerns-at-2026-winter-olympics-if-the-players-feel-that-the-ice-is-unsafe-to-play-then-were-not-going-to-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/338550\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly on ice quality concerns at 2026 Winter Olympics: \u2018If the players feel that the ice is unsafe to play, then we\u2019re not going to play\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The International Ice Hockey Federation confirmed Monday<\/a> that the ice surface to be used in Milan, Italy, for the 2026 Winter Olympics will be shorter than NHL-regulation size<\/a>. Games at the two arenas will be played on rinks measuring 196.85 by 85.3 feet, while regular NHL dimensions are 200 by 85 feet.<\/p>\n

News of the size difference came as a surprise to participating players and, perhaps more importantly, to the NHL commissioner\u2019s office, with deputy commissioner Bill Daly telling The Athletic\u2019s Chris Johnston<\/a> that he only found out about the issue last week. Daly, present at this week\u2019s Board of Governors meeting in Colorado, elaborated on the mounting concern about rink construction in Italy, noting that NHL participation could even be at risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the players feel that the ice is unsafe to play, then we\u2019re not going to play,\u201d Daly told Johnston<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s as simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Players have previously competed on international-sized rinks at the Olympics, but\u00a0the agreement<\/a> between the NHL, NHLPA, and International Olympic Committee specified an NHL-sized rink for the 2026 Games. The NHL last sent players to the Olympics for the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia.<\/p>\n

In a statement released Monday, the IIHF wrote that the surface\u2019s size differences will be \u201cinsignificant\u201d and \u201cshould not\u201d raise any player safety concerns. The statement, in full, was posted on the official Olympics website in conjunction with the IOC:<\/a><\/p>\n

The\u00a0IIHF\u00a0can confirm that the ice surfaces for the\u00a0Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games\u00a0will measure 60.0 m x 26.0 m (approximately 196.85 ft. x 85.3 ft). \u00a0While these dimensions differ slightly from a typical NHL rink, they are consistent with IIHF regulations, match the rink size used at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games and are fully consistent with the dimensions the NHL requires as part of its Global Series Game arena specifications. \u00a0All involved, the IIHF, the Organizing Committee, NHL, NHLPA, IOC and the relevant venue authorities agree that the differences in rink specifications are insignificant, and should not impact either the safety or quality of game play. We look forward to welcoming the world\u2019s best players for a best-on-best competition at the Games.<\/p>\n

Beyond the rink size and ice quality, the construction timeline for the venues still seems up in the air and ever-changing. Delays have already plagued the new arena, which will not be done in time<\/a> for a previously planned test event later this month.<\/p>\n

While most facilities are tested well in advance of Olympic use, the new arena will have very little wiggle room before official puck drop, and there\u2019s no backup venue available<\/a> if it\u2019s not done in time. According to hockey insider Frank Seravalli<\/a>, Daly told reporters that the Milan Olympic arena is now scheduled for completion on February 2. The first game in the women\u2019s tournament is scheduled for February 5.<\/p>\n

While the potential issues for the NHL remain, Daly told Seravalli<\/a> that the league does not believe any of the obstacles ahead are \u201cinsurmountable.\u201d However, the NHL and the NHLPA will insist on having the standard 200-by-85 ft. NHL ice surface at the 2030 Olympics in the French Alps.<\/p>\n

The men\u2019s ice hockey tournament will start with preliminary games on February 11, with the gold-medal game scheduled for February 22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The International Ice Hockey Federation confirmed Monday that the ice surface to be used in Milan, Italy, for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-338550","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}