With significant concerns over whether the 2026 Winter Olympics hockey venue will be ready in time, Toronto Maple Leafs stars like Auston Matthews and William Nylander weigh in on new information that the venue will be shorter than the standard 200 feet.
There has been a lot of discussion regarding whether the ice hockey venue for the 2026 Winter Olympics will be completed on time. However, even if the ice surface is ready. It will reportedly shorter than the standard 200-foot NHL dimension.
Team Canada assistant coach Pete DeBoer revealed the potential issue on the Real Kyper and Bourne podcast Monday, stating the ice appears to be "three or four feet" short of regular hockey dimensions. This revelation may affect how countries narrow down their tournament rosters for the Games, which take place in Italy in February 2026.
A couple of Toronto Maple Leafs players already named to their respective Olympic rosters had a chance to react to the news.
"I don't know. Just hoping it gets ready on time, to be honest," Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews said of the rink size.
"I don't know what that looks like or what that feels like. I mean, in the end, you're just going there, and you're representing your country. It's been something a lot of us have been yearning for a long time, the opportunity to play in the Olympics. In the end, it can be a 100-by-100 foot sheet. You just want to go out there and play and have that opportunity. Hopefully, they can kind of resolve everything and get everything figured out. But in the end, you just got to go out there and play, I guess,” he added.
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The NHL has not participated in a Winter Olympics since 2014. The league was set to return in 2022, but the COVID-19 pandemic created new restrictions. An Omicron wave of the virus also forced the league to reschedule some of its regular season games during the time it had initially planned to shut down for the Games in China.
It would be disappointing if the venue were not ready, resulting in another Games without a best-on-best format. Ultimately, the slightly shorter ice surface seems to be the least of the players' concerns.
“I don't know. I mean, four feet, I have no clue. Let's see,” said William Nylander.
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