Early reports that the NHL could pull out of the 2026 Olympics

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has made it very clear in recent interviews that he's concerned with the lack of progress being made on the Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena in Milan, Italy the venue for men's and women's hockey during the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Construction is way behind on the facility and crews are working feverishly to get things completed in time for February's Olympics.

Milan was awarded the Games in 2019 and construction started on the facility in 2023.

From ESPN:

"There's still work ongoing on the rinks and the ice conditions," confirmed NHL commissioner Gary Bettman at the NHL GM meetings earlier this month. "It's something that we're monitoring closely, and we have absolutely no control over. This is all on the [International Olympic Committee] and the [International Ice Hockey Federation]."

Bettman said the league is getting "constant reassurances" from the IOC and IIHF that "everything will be fine" with the rinks by the time athletes arrive overseas. At this point, the main hockey rink -- Santagiulia Arena -- is still under construction. The venue was meant to undergo testing for Olympic events in December, with a U-20 world championship tournament. But that's now been moved to another rink -- the Rho Fiera -- that will host secondary hockey matches during the Games.

And to make matters worse, the rink size is reportedly not up to NHL standards. Team Canada assistant Pete DeBoer was on Sportsnet's 590 The Fan radio in Toronto where he broke the news that the rink is actually three to four feet shorter than NHL regulation size.

“Actually, the ice surface looks like it’s going to be smaller than NHL rink standards, by probably three or four feet,” DeBoer said. “I don’t understand how that happened.”

“I don’t believe it’s a huge difference,” he later added. “But I believe there is a difference, and it’s on the smaller, not the bigger side.”

How... how... HOW does this happen?

Have the IOC and the NHL not been involved at all in this?

So, this all begs the questions, "What if the arena is not ready in time? Or if it's deemed not suitable?"

The answer is unclear. There are reports that the NHL would like to move to the Palasport Olimpico arena in Turin, which hosted 2006 Olympic hockey. The NHL has also reportedly proposed a site in nearby Switzerland.

Then there's also the possibility of the NHL pulling out of the Games entirely.

From Full Press Hockey:

“These Olympics could blow up in the NHL’s face and could be a disaster for the sport. If this isn’t successful, there will be real thought about future participation,” another source told Full Press Hockey.

At some point, the NHL will have to consider all options, including the nuclear option: pulling the shoot altogether and forcing the IIHF and IOC to field teams themselves.