The NHL’s return to the Winter Olympics is getting complicated.
With the Milan-Cortina Games only two months out, construction on the Olympic hockey arena in Milan has yet to be completed. The delays caused test events at the arena to be pushed out from early December to Jan. 9 through 11.
Now, there’s another hitch: The Athletic reported Tuesday that the International Ice Hockey Federation approved a 196.85-foot by 85.3-foot sheet of ice—dimensions that are three feet shorter and slightly wider than 200-foot by 85-foot NHL playing surfaces. The July agreement among the NHL, NHLPA, and IIHC stated that the ice at the Olympic games had to comply with the league’s standards.
The report came after Team Canada assistant coach Pete DeBoer said he believes the ice at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics will be “smaller than NHL rink standards by probably three or four feet.” On Monday’s Real Kyper and Bourne show, DeBoer added, “I don’t believe it’s a huge difference. But I believe there is a difference, and it’s on the smaller, not the bigger side.”
These roadblocks have sparked concern from the NHL and NHLPA, according to ESPN, though the NHL is not expected to back out of their agreement to allow players to participate in the Olympics for the first time since 2014.
The NHL announced in early 2024 that it would allow its players to compete at the Winter Olympics in 2026 and 2030. But the July deal only guaranteed NHL player participation for the Games in Italy in February, not the 2030 Games scheduled to be played in the French Alps.
The NHL, NHLPA, IIHC, and International Olympic Committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
When asked about the apparent issues with the rink at an Front Office Sports summit in October, Islanders owner Jon Ledecky said, “Every Olympics, having a great niece in my family who’s competed in Olympics where, two or three days before the event, ‘Is the pool ready or not?’ I can tell you that this venue thing always is great news fodder, but they will get it done, and it will be good.”
