2023–24 SHL Season

The 2023–24 SHL season was the 49th season of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). The regular season began in September 2023 and ended in March 2024, where it was followed by the playoffs and the relegation playoffs.

Färjestad BK won their first regular season title since 2018–19; a 4–5 overtime loss to Frölunda HC on 9 March 2024, gave them an unassailable tally of 103 points with a round to spare. They were unable to add the subsequent playoff title, as they were swept 0–4 in the quarter-finals by Rögle BK. Rögle BK made it all the way to the finals, the first team to do so having started in the eighth-finals, but Skellefteå AIK won the Le Mat Trophy with a 4–1 series victory, their first playoff title since 2013–14.

IK Oskarshamn were relegated to the HockeyAllsvenskan, as HV71 won the Play Out 4–3.

Teams

The league consists of 14 teams; MoDo Hockey returned to the SHL after seven seasons in the HockeyAllsvenskan, where they won the 2022–23 title. Brynäs IF were relegated to the HockeyAllsvenskan at the end of the previous season, and as a result, Färjestad BK is now the only team to have constantly played in the SHL (formerly Elitserien) since its inception in 1975.

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.

The top two teams in the regular season – Färjestad BK and the Växjö Lakers – qualified for the 2024–25 Champions Hockey League.

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.

Leading goaltenders

The following shows the top ten goaltenders who led the league in goals against average, provided that they had played at least 40% of their team's minutes, at the conclusion of the regular season.

Playoffs

Ten teams qualify for the playoffs: the top six teams in the regular season have a bye to the quarter-finals, 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 second-ranked team will face the other winner of the first round, the third-ranked team will face the sixth-ranked team, and the fourth-ranked team will face the fifth-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, and in the later 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 later rounds, 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) Luleå HF vs. (10) Örebro HK

(8) Timrå IK vs. (9) Rögle BK

Quarter-finals

(1) Färjestad BK vs. (9) Rögle BK

With their defeat in a series sweep, Färjestad BK became the first No. 1 seed since HV71 in 2010–11 (and third overall) to lose in the quarter-finals in such a manner. Rögle BK became the third team to make the semi-finals, having started the playoffs in the eighth-finals.

(2) Växjö Lakers vs. (7) Luleå HF

(3) Skellefteå AIK vs. (6) Linköping HC

(4) Frölunda HC vs. (5) Leksands IF

Semi-finals

(2) Växjö Lakers vs. (9) Rögle BK

With their series victory, Rögle BK became the first team to make the finals having started in the eighth-finals.

(3) Skellefteå AIK vs. (4) Frölunda HC

Finals

(3) Skellefteå AIK vs. (9) 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.

Leading goaltenders

The following shows the top 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.

Play Out

The two bottom-placed teams from the regular season (HV71 and IK Oskarshamn) played a best-of-seven series, with the winner remaining in the SHL and the loser relegated to the second tier, the HockeyAllsvenskan. The higher-seeded team held home advantage over the series, playing at home for the first two games and games five and seven while the lower-seeded team was at home for games three, four and six .

SHL awards

Notes

References

External links

*
SHL on eurohockey.comSHL on eliteprospects.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:SHL Season 2023-24
2023-24
2023–24 in Swedish ice hockey leagues