SEATTLE — There may be a new roadblock preventing NHL players from participating in the 2026 Winter Olympics, and this time, it might not be the NHL.
In fact, the NHL and NHL Players’ Association appear to be closing in on an agreement with the IIHF and International Olympic Committee, but commissioner Gary Bettman expressed concern on Tuesday for Milan’s ability to host hockey’s first best-on-best competition in 14 years given that construction hasn’t started yet on an arena.
“Not insignificantly, they have a lot of work to do,” Bettman said as the NHL’s two-day Board of Governors meetings wrapped. “I don’t think they’ve actually begun construction on it, which is a matter of some concern. We know it’s important to the players to go and we want to make it happen. We’re going to be as flexible as we can, but at some point we’ve got to do a schedule for that season.”
Bettman acknowledged that he’s “not concerned” about reaching an agreement on the usual suspects that have been sticking points on a deal with the IOC and IIHF, such as insurance, travel, accommodation for players and their families. More so that PalaItalia Santa Giulia, the proposed 16,000-seat arena, isn’t scheduled to be completed until late in 2025.
“You know, normally when you build a building for the Olympics for a hockey tournament, it’s done a year in advance, it’s done a year in advance and you have time to have events and test it and build the ice,” Bettman said. “They’re projecting that it won’t be done until the fourth quarter of ’25, which is like six or eight weeks before the Olympics — if they’re on time. And I think they’re already late. But that’s nothing we can control.”
What if the PalaItalia runs into more delays? What if the construction process makes it almost impossible to complete on-time for the Olympics? Without saying so, if you squint hard enough, the NHL seemed to open the door ever so slightly on Tuesday that this could be enough to cause the NHL to pull the plug on player participation. Think back to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics: The NHL has been vocal about not wanting a three-week disruption to the season, so the NHL said the pandemic prevented the league from halting play at a time when COVID-19 had already disrupted that season’s schedule.
There are other options to relocate the hockey tournament. The IOC, for instance, could move hockey two hours down the road to Torino, where the NHL participated in the 2006 Winter Games in 14,350-seat Palasport Olimpico arena. Or Lugano, Switzerland is just over an hour from Milan, and home to HC Lugano of the Swiss National A League and a suitable (if not small) Olympic venue. Would the NHL go for that? Or, as deputy commissioner Bill Daly wondered aloud on Tuesday, would NHL players want that?
“Going to the Olympics without participating in the Olympic experience is a problem, I would think,” Daly surmised. “But it’s ongoing, it's been productive. I can’t say I’m pessimistic at all.”
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