The infield at loanDepot park in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami was resplendent Thursday morning.

But in a few weeks, the baseball diamond at the home of Major League Baseball’s Miami Marlins will begin to disappear. The NHL will be transforming this ballpark in the tropics into a winter wonderland for the 2026 Discover NHL Winter Classic on Jan. 2, when the Florida Panthers will face the New York Rangers in the first NHL outdoor game in Florida (8 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SNW, SNO, SNE, TVAS).

“We feel like we are at a great stage to put on this year’s Winter Classic in Miami,” NHL president of content and events Steve Mayer said while sitting in the outfield Thursday. “It’s going to be great.”

As NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said at the Winter Classic last season at Chi

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