Does there need to be any special steps taken during the winter if you have a floating dock?

The house on the lake has a pier supported by 2" galvanized pipe shoved into the lake bottom. We've never had to remove it for the winter, nor has there been any damage to it from the ice. It's approx. 60' long, 42" wide with a 10' "L" on the end.

I was planning on making a floating dock for the pond this winter due to the fluctuating water levels, using 30 gallon blue poly drums. The pond during the winter months is approx. 1 ac in size, and the pier will be on the North side of the pond. The pond has a mature woods directly to the South and about 50% of the West shore also has trees protecting it from the wind.

I honestly don't know anything about the care of a floating dock, but have to say that in nearly every lake in our area that has floating docks, the operators completely remove them from the water every winter. I'm not sure why unless it has to do with protecting them from the freeze. It doesn't seem like the plastic floats would be all that susceptible to damage, though over the longer term, I guess ice can do damage to just about anything.