Gino Reda is joined by TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger to discuss the status of the Olympic facilities in Italy, what Milan Lucic’s next steps are, and the Toronto Maple Leafs power-play situation on the early edition of Insider Trading.

Gino Reda: If there’s no rink completed, there’s no NHL players going to the Olympics.

That’s what NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told Matt Larkin of Daily Faceoff.

We’re two months away from the Olympic Games, and this is still the conversation. To discuss that, here is TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger.

Could NHLers really skip the Olympic Games?

Darren Dreger: Only if the arena isn’t done. This isn’t fear mongering; this is Daly just stating fact.

The expectation is from the NHL, NHLPA, and the International Olympic Committee is that the venues will get done up to the standards the NHL requires.

Are there concerns to this point? Absolutely there are concerns. That’s not just shooting from the hip by Daly, that’s just the reality. If they do not pick up the pace and the arena isn’t safe and completed, there is the potential that the NHL will not participate.

But I’ll repeat myself here; the expectation by all parties is that it will get done. Really this information stems from what Pete DeBoer, who is part of Team Canada’s staff, said publicly on radio earlier this week. That was just acknowledging that the ice surface is expected to be smaller than what is traditional in the NHL.

I think that just ripped off the Band-Aid on the facility issues that have been on going in Milan, Italy.

Reda: Almost two years after prosecutors dropped the domestic violence charge against Milan Lucic, he was trying to make a comeback to the NHL with the St. Louis Blues.

They released him from this player tryout contract from their AHL affiliate last week. What’s the plan for him now?

Dreger: Lucic is contemplating his future and, undoubtedly, he will have a future in the sport. But what does that look like?

Does he take some time to focus more on his family? Does he dive right into an administrative role with an NHL club or get into coaching at a lower level?

These are all things that Lucic is contemplating at this point. But maybe his playing career isn’t entirely over at this stage.

It appears to be over in North America because he was released by the Blues, but I do know that he has interest overseas, in Scotland in particular. They made an offer to Lucic and now he has to decide whether he wants to be playing the game or getting involved in some other capacity closer to home.

Reda: On-ice news a little closer to home. The Maple Leafs are in Carolina tonight and are understandably trying to shake up that power-play unit. They’re 27th in the league right now. What’s the latest on that front?

Dreger: I would anticipate change to the structure of that power play going up against the Hurricanes in Raleigh tonight.

The Maple Leafs, historically or at least over the last two seasons, have employed the five-forward power play. But keep in mind that last year it was successful primarily because Mitch Marner was on the point.

He was the quarterback of a rather lethal Maple Leafs power play. Well, he’s not there now and they’ve opted instead to put Auston Matthews on the point to get him the puck as much as possible.

But he’s looked somewhat out of place, and the power play in general with five forwards hasn’t worked. In fact, we all saw on TSN on Tuesday night against the Florida Panthers that they gave up a short-handed goal and the forwards on the ice just looked completely out of place.

So, I believe that head coach Craig Berube will push Matthews back to a very familiar spot on the power play and that’s on the flank. The numbers don’t lie here; the power play is not working this season.

Despite the fact that they were good Saturday against the Pittsburgh Penguins as a team and followed it up with a much-needed win against the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers on Tuesday, they need to continue to string these wins in the division and Eastern Conference.

Getting their power play back on track could be a big part of that.

Reda: They’ve got to do it soon. It’s almost Christmas and this team is just now barely finding its legs.

That’s it for the early edition of Insider Trading. The full version of Insider Trading with Dreger, Pierre LeBrun, and Chris Johnston is coming up on the early edition of SportsCentre.