Good. While I think the Finnish rinks are the optimal size for any type of hockey competition, this is the right decision. The conversion of all hockey (including international and even European leagues) to the smaller rink would be a mistake, IMO. Hopefully this decision by the IIHF won't be used as argument for the NHL not to go. That would be very childish.
While it shouldn't be much of a factor in the NHL debate of going in the Olympics or not, that would (hopefully!) force Canada and the U.S. to consider including European major-league players into their rosters.
If not, they should build their teams with speedy players.
There isn't a Canadian player in Europe who's a better choice for the Olympics than a player from the NHL. There's a reason that Euro-based players are just token additions to even the World Championships roster.
Seriously, why would you hope for Euro-based players when the best players would be invited?
There are NHL rejects that tore it up in the European leagues; these players could play well on international rinks. The best of these Canadian/American NHL rejects play like the Euro-based players European teams play with at the Olympics. (For the record, even when the Olympics were played on NHL-sized rinks, every European team had at least one Euro-based player on their roster, even Sweden or Finland)
The vast majority of the players on the Canadian and U.S. teams will still be NHL players, that much I'll grant you.
While it shouldn't be much of a factor in the NHL debate of going in the Olympics or not, that would (hopefully!) force Canada and the U.S. to consider including European major-league players into their rosters.
If not, they should build their teams with speedy players.
Team Canada if not team USA has proven several times that the can handle a larger ice quite well, so I dont think that will be a factor when desiding who's going to play.
I think they will consider it, but mainly just that they will give preference to players that are strong skaters provided their overall games are basically equal. I would be shocked if either team was crazy enough to pick a player who plays in Europe.
Good. While I think the Finnish rinks are the optimal size for any type of hockey competition, this is the right decision.