NHL receives ‘positive reports’ on Olympic rink progress

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The NHL is "cautiously optimistic" that player participation in the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 will happen as planned despite ongoing construction and various ice concerns at Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, the main rink for the men's and women's ice hockey tournaments, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said on Monday.

"I'm getting positive reports about what they're going to do, what the next plan is, what the next day is, what it looks like, how the parties are reacting, et cetera, et cetera," Daly said following Day 1 of the NHL Board of Governors meeting here. "Today was a fairly positive day."

Daly provided the Board of Governors an update on the status of the venue, including ice dimensions and ice conditions.

He confirmed that the dimensions of the rink will be smaller than the NHL regulation size of 200-feet long and 85-feet wide. The rink in Milan is instead going to be approximately 197 feet in length.

The NHL's agreement with the International Olympic Committee and the International Ice Hockey Federation to send NHL players to the Olympics for the first time since 2014 specified the ice surface being NHL regulation.

"I think the IIHF was under the impression they had a different interpretation of what NHL ice meant than we would have," Daly said. "Even at the site visits I'm not sure it was anything that was perceptible to anybody. It's not like people bring tape measures there. So, for whatever reason, it came back the way it came back."

Daly said it's a structural issue that makes it impossible for the Olympic organizers to correct the ice dimensions at this time.

"Having said that, both we and the (NHL) Players' Association have made the IIHF very aware that when we participate in the Olympics in 2030, we expect it to be NHL ice surface," Daly said.

Explore NHL.com's Coverage of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026

Daly confirmed that the dimensions of the Olympic rink will be the same as the rink at Avicii Arena in Stockholm, where the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators played last month in the NHL Global Series Sweden presented by Fastenal.

He said there neither the NHL nor the NHLPA received negative feedback from the players who participated in the Global Series.

"I think the Players' Association has canvased the players and apparently they did not believe it to be a big issue, a health and safety issue or a competitive issue," Daly said.

The larger concern is the ice conditions and if they're going to be acceptable for NHL players, Daly said.

He echoed NHLPA assistant executive director Ron Hainsey, who told Sportsnet over the weekend, "The health and safety of our players while playing on any ice surface will not be compromised."

"That's something we're going to have to monitor," Daly said.

He said NHL ice technicians, led by senior director of facilities operations Derek King, are advising the ice technicians at Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.

The League will have access to test the ice from now until the tournament begins, Daly said.

"We have offered and they are utilizing our ice experts and technicians and outside providers," Daly said. "We're basically moving everybody there to try to help get this done in a way that is acceptable for NHL athletes."

The NHL has made its ice experts available for consulting at the previous Olympics that featured NHL players in 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014.

"We've always made them aware that we're there to help and as we get closer to the Games, we'll assess the situation on whether they have the sufficient manpower, resources, expertise to do it the way it needs to be done," Daly said. "We're willing to chip in and help to the extent that we need to."

Daly said all Olympic venues must be completed by Feb. 2. The first event at Santagiulia Arena is Feb. 5, when the women's tournament begins. The men's tournament begins Feb. 11.

Daly confirmed there is no alternative venue to host the Olympic hockey tournaments, but he stressed the NHL will not put its players in harm's way.

"I mean, if the ice is unplayable, the ice is unplayable," he said. "I don't want to be flip about it; we probably will know that in advance of the official start of the Games. What you do at that point becomes a different issue."

He said the IIHF has the authority to make a final decision about the tournament and if the ice conditions will allow it to go on as scheduled, but the NHL will have a significant voice in that.

"Obviously, if the players feel that the ice is unsafe, we're not going to play," Daly said. "It's as simple as that. Whatever flows from that, flows from that. I'm not really all that concerned about it."

But Daly stressed he doesn't want to be pessimistic because the reports he is receiving suggest the tournament will be able to go on as scheduled.

"I actually do think most of my information is more on the positive side than the negative side," Daly said. "The buildings are supposed to be done by Feb. 2, so we have some time, and the latest reports I was getting, I was at the table in the meeting, were positive."