# 2019–20 Liiga season

The 2019–20 SM-liiga season was the 45th season of the SM-liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975. The last two game days (12 and 14 March 2020) of the regular season were scheduled to be played in front of an empty arena due to the Finnish government advising that all public events with more than 500 attendees would be cancelled or postponed. On 13 March, the rest of the season, which included the final round of the regular season and all of playoffs, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Finnish championship was not awarded for the first time since 1944 when the 1943–44 SM-sarja season was cancelled due to the Continuation War.

## Teams

| Team | City | Head coach | Arena | Capacity | Captain |
| HIFK | Helsinki | Jarno Pikkarainen | Helsingin jäähalli | 8,200 | Lennart Petrell14 Nov 2019 Jere Sallinen |
| HPK | Hämeenlinna | Antti Pennanen | Patria-areena | 5,360 | Niklas Friman |
| Ilves | Tampere | Karri Kivi30 Sep 2019 Jouko Myrrä | Tampereen jäähalli | 7,300 | Eemeli Suomi |
| Jukurit | Mikkeli | Pekka Kangasalusta6 Jan 2020 Marko Kauppinen | Kalevankankaan jäähalli | 4,200 | Miika Roine |
| JYP | Jyväskylä | Pekka Tirkkonen | Synergia-areena | 4,437 | Juuso Vainio |
| KalPa | Kuopio | Tommi Miettinen | Niiralan monttu | 5,300 | Tommi Jokinen |
| KooKoo | Kouvola | Jussi Ahokas | Lumon arena | 6,000 | Alexander Bonsaksen |
| Kärpät | Oulu | Mikko Manner | Oulun Energia Areena | 6,614 | Lasse Kukkonen |
| Lukko | Rauma | Pekka Virta | Äijänsuo Arena | 5,000 | Tapio Laakso |
| Pelicans | Lahti | Ville Nieminen30 Nov 2019 Jesse Welling | Isku Areena | 5,371 | Hannes Björninen |
| SaiPa | Lappeenranta | Tero Lehterä | Kisapuisto | 4,820 | Elmeri Kaksonen |
| Sport | Vaasa | Ari-Pekka Pajuluoma23 Nov 2019 Risto Dufva | Vaasa Arena | 4,164 | Erik Riska |
| Tappara | Tampere | Jukka Rautakorpi | Tampereen jäähalli | 7,300 | Kristian Kuusela |
| TPS | Turku | Kalle Kaskinen1 Nov 2019 Marko Virtanen | HK Arena | 11,820 | Lauri Korpikoski |
| Ässät | Pori | Ari-Pekka Selin | Porin jäähalli | 6,350 | Niklas Appelgren |

## Regular season

Usually the top six advance straight to quarter-finals, while teams between 7th and 10th positions play wild card round for the final two spots. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the last game day of the season was not played and no playoffs were held. The top 4 teams of the unfinished regular season qualified for the Champions Hockey League and the 5th team to the Spengler Cup. The SM-liiga is a closed series and thus there is no relegation.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final Result |
| 1 | Kärpät | 59 | 36 | 7 | 5 | 11 | 185 | 114 | +71 | 127 | Qualify for 2020–21 Champions Hockey League |
| 2 | Lukko | 59 | 32 | 8 | 6 | 13 | 190 | 121 | +69 | 118 | Qualify for 2020–21 Champions Hockey League |
| 3 | Tappara | 60 | 30 | 11 | 7 | 12 | 188 | 128 | +60 | 119 | Qualify for 2020–21 Champions Hockey League |
| 4 | Ilves | 59 | 32 | 6 | 6 | 15 | 182 | 133 | +49 | 114 | Qualify for 2020–21 Champions Hockey League |
| 5 | KooKoo | 59 | 30 | 7 | 6 | 16 | 172 | 129 | +43 | 110 | Qualify for 2020 Spengler Cup |
| 6 | HIFK | 59 | 26 | 8 | 9 | 16 | 174 | 143 | +31 | 103 | |
| 7 | HPK | 59 | 27 | 7 | 7 | 18 | 157 | 147 | +10 | 102 | |
| 8 | JYP | 59 | 25 | 6 | 4 | 24 | 177 | 159 | +18 | 91 | |
| 9 | Ässät | 59 | 20 | 4 | 8 | 27 | 141 | 170 | −29 | 76 | |
| 10 | KalPa | 59 | 19 | 5 | 8 | 27 | 156 | 186 | −30 | 75 | |
| 11 | TPS | 59 | 17 | 5 | 8 | 29 | 149 | 185 | −36 | 69 | |
| 12 | SaiPa | 59 | 18 | 4 | 4 | 33 | 123 | 185 | −62 | 66 | |
| 13 | Jukurit | 59 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 33 | 127 | 178 | −51 | 56 | |
| 14 | Pelicans | 59 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 36 | 120 | 201 | −81 | 54 | |
| 15 | Sport | 59 | 11 | 4 | 8 | 36 | 129 | 191 | −62 | 49 | |
* 1 2 Due to the regular season being cut short, the ranking of the regular season is based on point average.
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) 3-point wins 3) Goal difference; 4) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points.

### Scoring leaders

The following players led the league in regular season points.
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | +/– | PIM |
| Justin Danforth | Lukko | 56 | 27 | 33 | 60 | +26 | 26 |
| Eemeli Suomi | Ilves Tampere | 57 | 26 | 31 | 57 | +23 | 42 |
| Julius Nattinen | JYP | 54 | 33 | 22 | 55 | +19 | 22 |
| Jesse Puljujarvi | Karpat | 56 | 24 | 29 | 53 | +30 | 52 |
| Kristian Kuusela | Tappara | 55 | 20 | 33 | 53 | +19 | 16 |