OLYMPICS: Short rinks cut no ice with NHL players, including McDavid

TORONTO – Canadian standout Connor McDavid and a number of his NHL peers are not concerned that the ice rinks for the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympics will be smaller than what they are used to playing on.

When NHL players make their return to the Olympics for the first time since 2014, they will do so on ice sheets that are more than three feet shorter than the NHL's standard size and slightly wider.

Given the high speed and intensity of the game, the smaller playing surfaces sparked safety concerns. However, McDavid, who is widely regarded as the greatest player in the world, is unfazed.

“I don’t care,” McDavid, who was one of six players named to Canada’s preliminary Olympic roster in June, told reporters in Toronto at a recent NHL game. “Not a big deal. Obviously, you want the ice to be good, you’d like the ice quality to be good. The size of it doesn’t matter.”

‘WE’LL PLAY ANYWHERE’

The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) addressed the concerns in a statement last week, saying the differences in rink specifications are “insignificant” and should not impact either the safety or quality of gameplay.

The IIHF also clarified that the ice surfaces will be the same size as those used at the 2022 Beijing Olympics and consistent with the dimensions the NHL requires for its Global Series Game arenas.

Auston Matthews, who secured a spot on Team USA, echoed McDavid’s sentiment. Matthews, who played on a smaller rink in Sweden two years ago as part of the NHL Global Series, said he didn’t notice a difference.

“Obviously, you want the conditions to be as similar to NHL as possible and the ice conditions to be as good as possible,” Matthews told Reuters. “But in the end, I don’t think anybody really cares (about the size). We’ll play anywhere. It’s just the honor of being able to compete in the Olympics that’s pretty surreal.”

ADAPT QUICKLY

The presence of NHL players at the Olympics makes the men’s ice hockey tournament one of the marquee events of the global sporting showcase. News of the smaller rinks initially took the hockey world by surprise.

John Tavares, who won a gold medal with Canada in 2014 and hopes to make the roster for Milano-Cortina, told Reuters that while it would be better to have NHL-sized rinks at the Olympics, it’s not a concern.

“The good thing is the dimensions and all those things are the same size for both teams,” said Tavares. “Eventually, I think guys adapt pretty quickly, especially when you’re talking about the best players in the world.”

For Leon Draisaitl, who will make his Olympic debut next year after being named to Germany’s preliminary roster, the quality of the ice—given the multiple games per day during the tournament—is more important than the rink’s dimensions.

“I don’t care about it, it’s fine,” Draisaitl told Reuters. “I think the quality (is more important) but either way, it’s the Olympics. We’ll make it work.”

Mattias Ekholm, an assistant captain for Sweden at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February and a hopeful for the Olympic roster, said he would need to experience the shorter rink firsthand to judge.

“It’s almost one of those things where you think about it and you’re like, ‘Well, two feet is not going to make much difference,’ but when you get there, maybe it does,” Ekholm said. “I have no idea.” -Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Ed Osmond/Reuters