Who Decides If NHL Players Go to the Olympics?

Every year, the NHL’s Board of Governors meetings start with a dozen topics buzzing around—cap projections, franchise business, the usual menu. But Monday was different. You didn’t need to be inside the room to know the only thing anybody was talking about: the Olympic arena situation in Milan. It wasn’t even subtle. The door closes, and everyone outside is already halfway through the conversation.

Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman did their rundown on Sportsnet afterward, and the whole segment basically boiled down to one question: “Is the arena going to be ready, and who gets to make the final call if it isn’t?”

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Bill Daly Tries to Sound Optimistic

NHL’s deputy commissioner Bill Daly answered the same questions about the same topic. But if he were bored by the redundancy, he didn’t show it. He adopted an optimistic tone and stuck to it regardless of who asked.

The big update is that the Olympic arena in Milan is supposed to be completed by February 2nd. That’s the date they’ve been given. The issue? The first women’s hockey game is scheduled for February 5th. A three-day gap between handing over the keys and dropping the puck. That’s not exactly a luxurious runway.

There’s a test event next month, which is reassuring on paper, but this project has slipped behind schedule enough times that no one seems fully relaxed about it. Daly admitted as much, saying this whole thing has been “more difficult than everybody expected.” A polite way of acknowledging that the entire hockey world is holding its breath.

Still, he kept coming back to the same point: most of the information the league is hearing right now is positive. No red flags, no “insurmountable obstacles,” as he put it. He’s choosing optimism, and for now he’s asking everyone else to do the same.

Who Makes the Final Call? Apparently, the Players

The more interesting part of the conversation came when Friedman asked the question that’s been whispered for weeks: If the building isn’t fully ready, who actually decides whether the NHL goes through with it? According to Daly, it’s the players.

He said—almost with a shrug—that when it comes to big games, whether it’s the Stanley Cup Final or the Olympics, players will try to play through anything. “If you told them they’d play for the gold medal on a surface made of ketchup,” Daly joked, “they’d try to play it.” And honestly, he’s not wrong. NHL players have been begging for Olympic participation for years. They’re not about to get picky on the final approach.

But that’s exactly why this decision won’t be about heart and competitive spirit alone. It will land in the hands of the NHLPA’s leadership, especially Ron Hainsey, who’s seen enough hockey to know when emotion needs to take a back seat. He’ll need to guide a group of highly motivated players toward a decision that balances passion with safety and common sense.

No, the Olympics Can’t Just Move the Games to North America

Friedman also addressed one rumour floating around online: the idea that if the Milan arena can’t be finished, the tournament could be moved to a rink in North America and everyone would… deal with it.

That is not happening.

This is not an NHL event. It’s not even a partnership event. It’s the Olympics. The NHL has zero authority to create a “Plan B” arena. There is no backup rink waiting in Toronto, Salt Lake, or anywhere else. If the Milan arena isn’t ready, the entire hockey tournament is in trouble. It’s that simple.

Where Things Stand Now

So that’s where we are: a lot of people trying to sound positive, a building that absolutely must be ready on time, and a players’ association that may have a massive decision dropped in its lap if things slip even a little.

Honestly, nobody wants it to get messy. Every NHL player playing in these games wants the building to open as planned on February 2nd. Of course, they want the ice to freeze perfectly, and they’d like to wear their countries’ uniforms in these Olympics, just as they would in any other. But will the tight timeline allow it?

For now, we wait—and hope the builders in Milan know exactly how close the hockey world is watching.

Related: Olympic Hockey Arena Cutting It Close, NHL Tries to Stay Positive Amid Warning