# 2014–15 Liiga season

The 2014–15 SM-liiga season was the 40th season of the SM-liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975.

## Teams

| Team | City | Head coach | Arena | Capacity | Captain |
| Ässät | Pori | Pekka Rautakallio | Porin jäähalli | 6,466 | Ville Uusitalo |
| Blues | Espoo | Jyrki Aho | Barona Areena | 7,017 | Kim Hirschovits |
| HIFK | Helsinki | Antti Törmänen | Helsingin jäähalli | 8,200 | Toni Söderholm |
| HPK | Hämeenlinna | Pasi Arvonen | Patria-areena | 5,360 | Joonas Vihko |
| Ilves | Tampere | Tuomas Toukkola | Tampereen jäähalli | 7,600 | Sami Sandell |
| JYP | Jyväskylä | Marko Virtanen | Jyväskylän jäähalli | 4,500 | Eric Perrin |
| KalPa | Kuopio | Pekka Virta | Kuopion jäähalli | 5,064 | Mikko Jokela |
| Kärpät | Oulu | Lauri Marjamäki | Oulun Energia Areena | 6,614 | Lasse Kukkonen |
| Lukko | Rauma | Risto Dufva | Äijänsuo Arena | 5,400 | Ilkka Mikkola |
| Pelicans | Lahti | Tomi Lämsä | Isku Areena | 5,530 | Juha Leimu |
| SaiPa | Lappeenranta | Pekka Tirkkonen | Kisapuisto | 4,825 | Ville Koho |
| Sport | Vaasa | Tomek Valtonen | Vaasa Arena | 4,448 | Miko Malkamäki |
| Tappara | Tampere | Jussi Tapola | Tampereen jäähalli | 7,600 | Jukka Peltola |
| TPS | Turku | Kai Suikkanen 7 Nov 2014 Miika Elomo 17 Feb 2015 Jarno Pikkarainen | Turkuhalli | 11,820 | Petteri Nummelin |

## Regular season

Top six advanced straight to quarter-finals, while teams between 7th and 10th positions played wild card round for the final two spots. The SM-liiga is a closed series and thus there is no relegation.
| Team | GP | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | +/− | P |
| Kärpät | 60 | 31 | 9 | 4 | 16 | 167 | 126 | +41 | 115 |
| Tappara | 60 | 28 | 7 | 8 | 17 | 155 | 123 | +32 | 106 |
| Lukko | 60 | 24 | 7 | 17 | 12 | 163 | 147 | +16 | 103 |
| JYP | 60 | 28 | 5 | 8 | 19 | 174 | 151 | +23 | 102 |
| Blues | 60 | 25 | 11 | 3 | 21 | 166 | 149 | +17 | 100 |
| KalPa | 60 | 25 | 8 | 6 | 21 | 134 | 115 | +19 | 97 |
| HIFK | 60 | 24 | 9 | 6 | 21 | 177 | 150 | +27 | 96 |
| SaiPa | 60 | 23 | 9 | 7 | 21 | 151 | 146 | +5 | 94 |
| Ässät | 60 | 23 | 6 | 9 | 22 | 151 | 143 | +8 | 90 |
| Ilves | 60 | 24 | 5 | 6 | 25 | 150 | 161 | -11 | 88 |
| HPK | 60 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 26 | 143 | 165 | -22 | 76 |
| Pelicans | 60 | 16 | 6 | 8 | 30 | 125 | 166 | -41 | 68 |
| TPS | 60 | 17 | 3 | 8 | 32 | 122 | 172 | -50 | 65 |
| Sport | 60 | 15 | 5 | 5 | 35 | 121 | 185 | -64 | 60 |

## Playoffs
### Bracket

| Wild-card round (best-of-3) | Wild-card round (best-of-3) | Wild-card round (best-of-3) | Quarter-finals (best-of-7) | Quarter-finals (best-of-7) | Quarter-finals (best-of-7) | Semi-finals (best-of-7) | Semi-finals (best-of-7) | Semi-finals (best-of-7) | Finals (best-of-7) | Finals (best-of-7) | Finals (best-of-7) |
| | | | 1 | Kärpät | 4 | | | | | | |
| 7 | HIFK | 2 | 8 | SaiPa | 1 | | | | | | |
| 10 | Ilves | 0 | | | | 1 | Kärpät | 4 | | | |
| | | | | | | 4 | JYP | 3 | | | |
| | | | 2 | Tappara | 4 | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | | | |
| | | | 7 | HIFK | 2 | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | | | |
| | | | | | | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | 1 | Kärpät | 4 |
| | | | | | | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | 2 | Tappara | 3 |
| | | | 3 | Lukko | 4 | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) |
| 8 | SaiPa | 2 | 6 | KalPa | 2 | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) |
| 9 | Ässät | 0 | | | | 2 | Tappara | 4 | Bronze medal game | Bronze medal game | Bronze medal game |
| | | | | | | 3 | Lukko | 3 |
| | | | 4 | JYP | 4 | | | | 3 | Lukko | 0 |
| | | | 5 | Blues | 0 | | | | 4 | JYP | 1 |

### Wild card round (best-of-three)
#### (7) HIFK vs. (10) Ilves

HIFK wins the series 2-0.

#### (8) SaiPa vs. (9) Ässät

SaiPa wins the series 2-0.

### Quarterfinals (best-of-seven)
#### (1) Kärpät vs. (8) SaiPa

Kärpät wins the series 4-1.

#### (2) Tappara vs. (7) HIFK

Tappara wins the series 4-2.

#### (3) Lukko vs. (6) KalPa

Lukko wins the series 4-2.

#### (4) JYP vs. (5) Blues

JYP wins the series 4-0.

### Semifinals (best-of-seven)
#### (1) Kärpät vs. (4) JYP

Kärpät wins the series 4-3.

#### (2) Tappara vs. (3) Lukko

Tappara wins the series 4–3.

### Finals (best-of-seven)

Kärpät wins the finals 4–3.

## Final rankings

| | Kärpät |
| | Tappara |
| | JYP |
| 4 | Lukko |
| 5 | Blues |
| 6 | KalPa |
| 7 | HIFK |
| 8 | SaiPa |
| 9 | Ässät |
| 10 | Ilves |
| 11 | HPK |
| 12 | Pelicans |
| 13 | TPS |
| 14 | Sport |