NHL Not Panicking Yet over Olympic Ice Rink, But Getting Close To
Elliotte Friedman joined Scott Laughlin and Gord Stellick on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio on Wednesday and was asked about the Olympic Ice Hockey Rink and the concern from the NHL side because it is not yet completed.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Scott Laughlin: The big news yesterday, I guess, is that Friedge is the fact that the NHL, apparently, and you can shed some light on this a little bit further, is actually sending a delegation while they’re over in Europe anyway, for the Global Series to go check out the arena in Italy. Concerned right now Friedge just to whether or not it’s going to be up and running in time for February.
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Elliotte Friedman: “I think what’s going on here, Scott, is that they’ve gotten some concerning reports, and they want to send some people there to see for sure. And there’s going to be someone from the Players Association going to it, as was mentioned to me last night (Tuesday), so I just heard that.
They get updates all the time, and this is something that they’re not in control of. And I, I just think they want to see before they actually comment on it. But yes, I got the sense yesterday (Tuesday) was a bit of what exactly is going on here. Although, as I wrote, they’re kind of when I asked a few different people, are really worried, and the driest answer I got was, ‘We’ll see when they get there.’
So I think we’ll have a better idea in about a week where we are. The games in Sweden are 14th and 16th. So I guess they’re going to go over right after. I reminded (Gary) Bettman about this once, that they were still kind of building Sochi when we showed up there in 2014, so it’s not unusual.
But he made the point of saying that while that’s true, the rink was done well in advance. They held the World Under-18s 10 months before those Olympics in 2014 and they haven’t been able to hold an event yet. And then they were supposed to hold in December has been pushed back into January.
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So I would say there is concern Scotty, however, they are determined not to go into any kind of panic mode until they see it next week.”
NHLRumors.com Note: As NHLRumors.com has documented, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman isn’t happy with the delay in completing the Olympic ice rink in Milan. Again, as he has stated, the NHL and its Players are guests of the Olympics. However, the fact that they are sending people over to check the progress of a rink that isn’t complete is raising alarm bells as to why, and could this force the NHL’s hand moving forward?
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