The 2020–21 SHL season was the 46th season of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). The regular season began in September 2020 and ended on 3 April 2021, and it was then followed by the playoffs and the relegation playoffs. The league consisted of the 14 teams that competed in the 2019–20 season; because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden, no relegation or promotion took place after the previous season. The Växjö Lakers won the regular season for the third time in club history. In the SHL qualifier, Brynäs IF defeated HV71 in five games to stay in the SHL. The Växjö Lakers won the Le Mat Trophy for the third time, defeating Rögle BK by 4 games to 1 in the playoffs final.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden, many of the teams have had their players affected, causing many regular season games to be moved forward and the end of the regular season to be postponed multiple times.
Teams
Team City Arena Capacity Brynäs IF Gävle Monitor ERP Arena 7,909 Djurgårdens IF Stockholm Hovet 8,094 Frölunda HC Gothenburg Scandinavium 12,044 Färjestad BK Karlstad Löfbergs Arena 8,647 HV71 Jönköping Husqvarna Garden 7,000 Leksands IF Leksand Tegera Arena 7,650 Linköping HC Linköping Saab Arena 8,500 Luleå HF Luleå Coop Norrbotten Arena 6,300 Malmö Redhawks Malmö Malmö Arena 13,000 IK Oskarshamn Oskarshamn Be-Ge Hockey Center 3,275 Rögle BK Ängelholm Catena Arena 5,150 Skellefteå AIK Skellefteå Skellefteå Kraft Arena 6,001 Växjö Lakers Växjö Vida Arena 5,700 Örebro HK Örebro Behrn Arena 5,150
Regular season Each team played 52 games, playing each of the other thirteen teams four times: twice on home ice, and twice away from home. Points were awarded for each game, where three points were awarded for winning in regulation time, two points for winning in overtime or shootout, one point for losing in overtime or shootout, and zero points for losing in regulation time. At the end of the regular season, the team that finished with the most points was crowned the league champion.
Standings
Statistics
Scoring leaders
The following shows the top ten players who led the league in points, at the conclusion of the regular season. If two or more skaters are tied (i.e. same number of points, goals and played games), all of the tied skaters are shown.
Player Team Leksands IF 44 14 37 51 +9 26 Rögle BK 52 18 32 50 +10 22 Färjestad BK 51 25 23 48 +10 2 Växjö Lakers 52 22 26 48 +10 20 Leksands IF 46 14 32 46 +6 8 Rögle BK 51 25 20 45 +12 53 Skellefteå AIK 49 12 33 45 +11 18 Skellefteå AIK 52 12 33 45 +4 42 Luleå HF 50 14 28 42 +5 43 Skellefteå AIK 52 22 18 40 +12 49
Leading goaltenders The following shows the top ten goaltenders who led the league in goals against average, provided that they have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, at the conclusion of the regular season.
Player Team(s) Växjö Lakers 31 1876:48 19 3 9 56 5 93.34 1.79 Skellefteå AIK 22 1298:34 12 2 7 44 4 92.18 2.03 Rögle BK 33 1950:11 16 5 11 66 4 91.62 2.03 Luleå HF 22 1316:55 11 3 8 49 2 90.77 2.23 Skellefteå AIK 32 1835:39 19 1 11 71 2 91.99 2.32 Malmö Redhawks 41 2365:43 16 3 20 94 2 92.00 2.38 Leksands IF 50 2862:50 28 2 18 115 4 91.56 2.41 Örebro HK 32 1928:00 19 2 11 78 3 90.90 2.43 Frölunda HC 33 1868:08 17 0 15 78 3 90.01 2.51 Färjestad BK 31 1832:27 13 4 12 78 3 90.98 2.55 Djurgårdens IF 31 1791:38 15 1 13 76 1 90.97 2.55
Playoffs Ten teams qualify for the playoffs: the top six teams in the regular season have a bye to the quarterfinals, while teams ranked seventh to tenth meet each other (7 versus 10, 8 versus 9) in a preliminary playoff round.
Format In the first round, the 7th-ranked team meets the 10th-ranked team and the 8th-ranked team meets the 9th-ranked team for a place in the second round. In the second round, the top-ranked team will meet the lowest-ranked winner of the first round, the 2nd-ranked team will face the other winner of the first round, the 3rd-ranked team will face the 6th-ranked team, and the 4th-ranked team will face the 5th-ranked team. In the third round, the highest remaining seed is matched against the lowest remaining seed. In each round the higher-seeded team is awarded home advantage. The meetings are in the first round played as best-of-three series, in the third round as best-of-five series and in the second and fourth rounds as best-of-seven series. In the eighth-finals, the higher-seeded teams play at home for game 2 (plus 3 if necessary) while the lower-seeded teams play at home for game 1. In the semi-finals, the higher-seeded teams are at home for games 1 and 2 (plus 5 if necessary) while the lower-seeded teams are at home for game 3 (plus 4 if necessary). In the quarter-finals and the finals, the higher-seeded teams are at home for games 1 and 2 (plus 5 and 7 if necessary) while the lower-seeded teams are at home for games 3 and 4 (plus 6 if necessary).
Playoff bracket
Eighth-finals (7) Frölunda HC vs. (10) Djurgårdens IF
(8) Färjestad BK vs. (9) Malmö Redhawks
Quarter-finals (1) Växjö Lakers vs. (8) Färjestad BK
(2) Rögle BK vs. (7) Frölunda HC
(3) Leksands IF vs. (6) Örebro HK
(4) Skellefteå AIK vs. (5) Luleå HF
Semi-finals (1) Växjö Lakers vs. (6) Örebro HK
(2) Rögle BK vs. (4) Skellefteå AIK
Finals (1) Växjö Lakers vs. (2) Rögle BK
Statistics Scoring leaders The following players led the league in points, at the conclusion of the playoffs. If two or more skaters are tied (i.e. same number of points, goals and played games), all of the tied skaters are shown.
Player Team Växjö Lakers 14 7 7 14 +10 8 Växjö Lakers 14 5 6 11 +5 4 Rögle BK 14 6 4 10 +2 6 Växjö Lakers 14 5 5 10 +6 0 Växjö Lakers 14 5 5 10 +9 2 Skellefteå AIK 12 4 6 10 +2 35 Rögle BK 14 4 6 10 0 22 Växjö Lakers 14 4 6 10 +8 2 Örebro HK 9 3 7 10 +4 2 Rögle BK 14 1 9 10 +2 8
Leading goaltenders The following shows the top five goaltenders who led the league in goals against average, provided that they have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, at the conclusion of the playoffs.
Player Team Örebro HK 8 507:08 5 3 11 1 95.07 1.30 Rögle BK 13 790:25 8 5 20 3 93.03 1.52 Växjö Lakers 10 620:56 7 3 18 1 93.02 1.74 Skellefteå AIK 10 640:00 5 5 21 0 92.73 1.97 Djurgårdens IF 3 178:08 1 2 6 0 93.41 2.02
Play Out Teams 13 and 14 from the regular season played a best-of-seven series, with the winner remaining in the SHL and the loser relegated to the second tier, HockeyAllsvenskan. The higher-seeded team had home advantage over the series, playing at home for games 1 and 3 (plus 5 and 7 if necessary) while the lower-seeded team was at home for games 2 and 4 (plus 6 if necessary).
SHL awards Award Winner(s) Guldhjälmen Marek Hrivík (Leksands IF) Guldpucken N/A Honken Trophy Viktor Fasth (Växjö Lakers) Håkan Loob Trophy Simon Ryfors (Rögle BK) Daniel Viksten (Färjestad BK) Rookie of the Year William Eklund (Djurgårdens IF) Salming Trophy Nils Lundkvist (Luleå HF) Stefan Liv Memorial Trophy Pontus Holmberg (Växjö Lakers) Guldpipan Mikael Nord
References
External links