Building up to the 2026 Olympics in Milan in February, there has been concern around the league regarding the arena that players will be playing in. There have been reports about the arena not being ready, as well as the surface being about three feet shorter than an NHL rink.

On Sportsnet’s ‘Saturday Headlines,’ insider Elliotte Friedman said he sees a good chance that all will be fine and NHL players will get to feature in the Olympics for the first time since 2014.

However, Friedman spoke with the NHLPA’s assistant executive director, Ron Hainsey, regarding what the biggest issue will be with the Olympic arena.

While the shorter ice surface isn’t ideal, Hainsey and the NHLPA are more concerned about the safety and quality of the ice in Milan.

The league is supposed to hold a test event from Jan. 9 to 11, Friedman reported.

“I think that test event is going to be critical, very important in determining how good this ice is going to be,” the Sportsnet insider said.

Furthermore, Friedman pointed to the schedule of the opening two days of the men’s ice hockey event, explaining that there will be five games played in 30 hours. In addition, those games will be coming after some contests from the women’s event.

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With all that, the message that Hainsey portrayed was clear.

“The health and safety of our players while playing on any surface will not be compromised,” he said.

Earlier in this segment on the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast, Friedman explained why Hainsey and the NHLPA aren’t as worried about the size of the ice versus the quality.

Hainsey pointed out that NHL players have played on smaller surfaces before. Earlier in this regular season, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators played two games in Sweden as part of the NHL’s Global Series.

Both games were held at Avicii Arena in Stockholm, and according to Friedman, the 197-foot surface was similar to what these players will have to deal with at the Olympics.

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In this situation, the size of the neutral zone was slightly shorter, while the two remaining zones on opposite sides of the ice remained NHL size.

Hainsey shared that the NHLPA never received any complaints in relation to the ice size and believes it shouldn’t be a big issue come February for the Olympic Games.

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