If the ice isn’t safe, the NHL will take its puck and go home.
That was the message NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told reporters in Colorado on Monday amid news of ongoing issues with the Olympic ice hockey rink being constructed in Milan, Italy for the Winter Games in two months.
Daly had told NHL owners that he didn’t believe the issues were “insurmountable,” but with a tight window between expected completion and the start of the men’s tournament, the message was straightforward.
“If the players feel that the ice is unsafe to play, then we’re not going to play,” the deputy commish told reporters, per ESPN. “It’s as simple as that.”
The completion of the arena and the quality of the ice have become growing concerns with the main hockey arena’s completion schedule well behind what it had been expected to be — it’s now said to be done on Feb. 2 — leaving just three days before women’s and men’s competitions begin.
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.
A normal NHL rink is 200 feet by 85 feet and the rinks in Milan will be 196.85 feet by 85.3 feet.
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 “did not believe it to be a big issue, health and safety issue or a competitive issue.”
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.
The NHL had not allowed its players to partake in the Olympics since the Sochi Games.
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.
He labeled himself as “cautiously optimistic” that the NHL’s efforts will be “fruitful” and acknowledged that there is no play by organizers or by the league for Olympic hockey to be played elsewhere if things aren’t ready.
“I mean, it kind of is what it is,” Daly said. “Having said that, if you’re faced with that being the reality, then you have to think about what you do next. “
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