the deputy commish told reporters, per ESPN<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s as simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\nThe completion of the arena and the quality of the ice have become growing concerns with the main hockey arena\u2019s completion schedule well behind what it had been expected to be \u2014 it\u2019s now said to be done on Feb. 2 \u2014 leaving just three days before women\u2019s and men\u2019s competitions begin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Furthermore, two of the ice rinks in Milan will be roughly three feet smaller than what a standard NHL sheet of ice is, which violates the terms that the IIHF, the NHL and NHLPA had agreed to back in July.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A normal NHL rink is 200 feet by 85 feet and the rinks in Milan will be 196.85 feet by 85.3 feet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Daly told reporters that the league and the players association are not concerned about it as of now and that the NHLPA had addressed it with its membership, which \u201cdid not believe it to be a big issue, health and safety issue or a competitive issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the drama around the completion of the arena and questions about potential safety issues for the ice have caused an unexpected headache as the NHL prepared to return to Olympic hockey for the first time since 2014.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/general-view-construction-site-palaitalia-117002639.jpg\")
The construction site of the PalaItalia Santa Giulia ice hockey arena, which will host the hockey and para hockey competitions at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, in Milan, Italy. REUTERS<\/p>\n
The NHL had not allowed its players to partake in the Olympics since the Sochi Games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The league is stepping up its participation in the arena efforts and the host country is taking advantage of an offer made by the NHL for it to utilize their ice experts, technicians and outside providers, Daly said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He labeled himself as \u201ccautiously optimistic\u201d that the NHL\u2019s efforts will be \u201cfruitful\u201d and acknowledged that there is no play by organizers or by the league for Olympic hockey to be played elsewhere if things aren\u2019t ready.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, it kind of is what it is,\u201d Daly said. \u201cHaving said that, if you\u2019re faced with that being the reality, then you have to think about what you do next. \u201c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If the ice isn\u2019t safe, the NHL will take its puck and go home.\u00a0 That was the message…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,1082,99,58926],"class_list":{"0":"post-339538","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-olympics","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-winter-olympics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339538","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=339538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"General](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2025-milan-italy-event-serves-117026207.jpg\")
General view inside the stadium during the 2026 IIHF U20 World Championship Division Group B match between Estonia and Japan at Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena on December 08, 2025 in Milan, Italy. The event serves as test event for the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. Getty Images<\/p>\n