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NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly doubled down on warnings about the league’s participation in the upcoming Winter Olympics, saying Monday that NHL players would not travel to Italy if the rink under construction in Milan was deemed unsafe.
Concerns about the size and construction timeline of the primary rink surfaced in the weeks leading up to the 2026 Games. Last week, Daly said Matt Larkin of DailyFaceoff “If no rink is completed, no NHL player will compete in the Olympics.”
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly speaks during a joint NHLPA-NHL press briefing at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California on June 27, 2025. (Brian Babineau/NHL via Getty Images)
But at Monday’s NHL Board of Governors meeting, Daly clarified that he doesn’t believe the construction problems are “insurmountable.” He stressed, however, that security concerns were another story.
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“We offered and they bring in our ice experts, our technicians and our outside vendors,” Daly said. via ESPN. “We’re basically moving everyone there to try to help make this acceptable for NHL athletes. And I’m cautiously optimistic that it will be successful.”
But Daly added that if players judge the quality of the ice to be unsafe, “then we’re not going to play.”
The return of NHL players to the Olympics after more than a decade away rests entirely on organizers’ ability to build the venue in time — and safely — for the men’s competition, which runs Feb. 11-22.
Local organizers told The Associated Press in October that the main test event scheduled for December for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia Arena had been pushed back to a smaller arena and that completion of the main arena would go down to the wire.
Construction continues at the Milan Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena for the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, January 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, file)
NHL DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WARNS PLAYERS MAY SKIP 2026 OLYMPICS DUE TO CONSTRUCTION CONCERNS
But last week, Andrea Francisi, head of Games operations at Milan Cortina, told the AP that “there was no plan B” and that new test events were scheduled until the second week of January.
The rink itself will also be more than a meter smaller than a standard NHL rink, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) confirmed on Monday.
“While these dimensions differ slightly from those of a typical NHL rink, they comply with IIHF regulations, match the size of the rink used at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, and are fully compliant with the dimensions required by the NHL as part of the Global Series Game arena specifications,” the federation said. “All involved, the IIHF, the Organizing Committee, the NHL, the NHLPA, the IOC and the appropriate venue authorities agree that the differences in rink specifications are insignificant and should have no impact on the safety or quality of play.”
Team USA forward Brady Tkachuk (7) celebrates with his teammates after his goal against Team Finland during the third period during a 4 Nations head-to-head ice hockey game at the Bell Centre. (David Kirouac/Imagn Images)
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The season will be on hiatus during the Olympics. If the rink doesn’t meet NHL standards, Daly said Monday a backup plan is in place.
“Well, I can’t tell you exactly what we do,” he said. “What I would say is that in emergency situations like this in the past, I think we have responded appropriately, found good solutions and I have no doubt that we will be able to find good solutions if we are faced with this.”
