2020–21 DEL season

The 2020–21 Deutsche Eishockey Liga season was the 27th season since the founding of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the league announced 13 November 2020 as the start date, which was later postponed to a later date. On 19 November 2020, the DEL announced that the season would start on 17 December 2020.
Eisbären Berlin won their eighth title, after defeating the Grizzlys Wolfsburg in three games.
==Format==
The season saw the same 14 teams as last year, as all teams were given a license. Adler Mannheim will be the defending champions from the 2018–19 DEL season as the 2019–20 season was ended after the regular season. At that point, EHC Red Bull München, who won three consecutive DEL titles until Mannheim’s 2019 triumph (a 4–1 series win against Munich), were the league leaders and had clinched the first seed for the DEL playoffs.
This season would have marked the return of promotion and relegation, as the last placed team would have been relegated to the second tier DEL2 and the 2020–21 DEL2 champions would have replaced them for the 2021–22 season DEL. On 23 October 2020, the relegation rule was moved to next season. Still, the DEL2 champion can be promoted at the end of this season, so next season could be played with 15 teams. The 14 teams played the regular season in two groups (North and South). They played the teams from the same group four times and the teams from the other group twice. After that, the top four clubs from both groups advanced to the playoffs. The quarterfinals were played within the group before, from the semifinals on, it was mixed. All playoff rounds were best of three.
==Teams==
Team 	City 	Arena 	Capacity
Augsburger Panther 	Augsburg 	Curt Frenzel Stadium 	6,218
Eisbären Berlin 	Berlin 	Mercedes-Benz Arena 	14,200
Fischtown Pinguins 	Bremerhaven 	Eisarena Bremerhaven 	4,674
Düsseldorfer EG 	Düsseldorf 	ISS Dome 	13,400
ERC Ingolstadt 	Ingolstadt 	Saturn Arena 	4,815
Iserlohn Roosters 	Iserlohn 	Eissporthalle Iserlohn 	5,000
Kölner Haie 	Cologne 	Lanxess Arena 	18,500
Krefeld Pinguine 	Krefeld 	König Palast 	9,000
Adler Mannheim 	Mannheim 	SAP Arena 	13,600
EHC Red Bull München 	Munich 	Olympia Eishalle 	6,256
Nürnberg Ice Tigers 	Nuremberg 	Arena Nürnberger Versicherung	7,810
Schwenninger Wild Wings	Villingen-Schwenningen	Helios Arena 	6,215
Straubing Tigers 	Straubing 	Eisstadion am Pulverturm 	6,000
Grizzlys Wolfsburg 	Wolfsburg 	Eis Arena Wolfsburg 	4,660
==Regular season==
===North===
====Standings====
====Results====
===South===
====Standings====
}
====Results====
===Intra-groups games===
==Playoffs==
All rounds were played in a best of three format. The first round was played in the regional group.
===Bracket===
===Quarterfinals===
The quarterfinals were played between 20 and 24 April 2021 in a best-of-three mode.
====Eisbären Berlin vs Iserlohn Roosters====
====Fischtown Pinguins vs Grizzlys Wolfsburg====
====Adler Mannheim vs Straubing Tigers====
====EHC Red Bull München vs ERC Ingolstadt====
===Semifinals===
The semifinals were played between 26 and 29 April 2021 in a best-of-three format.
====Eisbären Berlin vs ERC Ingolstadt====
====Adler Mannheim vs Grizzlys Wolfsburg====
===Final===
The final was played between 2 and 7 May 2021 in a best-of-three format.
==Awards and statistics==
===Awards===
The awards were announced on 2 May 2021.
Award 	Player
Player of the year 	Marcel Noebels
Goaltender of the year	Joacim Eriksson
Defenceman of the year	Marcel Brandt
Forward of the year 	Marcel Noebels
Rookie of the year 	Florian Elias
Coach of the year 	Thomas Popiesch
Finals MVP 	Ryan McKiernan
===Scoring leaders===
List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.
Player 	Team 	GP	G 	A 	Pts	+/−	PIM	POS
Joe Whitney 	Iserlohn Roosters 	37	21	24	45 	0 	22 	F
Casey Bailey 	Iserlohn Roosters 	37	20	24	44 	+3 	56 	F
Jason Akeson 	Kölner Haie 	38	12	32	44 	+2 	8 	F
Chris Bourque 	EHC Red Bull München	38	7 	35	42 	+23	26 	F
Marcel Noebels 	Eisbären Berlin 	36	6 	25	42 	+17	12 	F
Trevor Parkes 	EHC Red Bull München	38	23	18	41 	+22	16 	F
Matt White 	Eisbären Berlin 	38	19	20	39 	+15	10 	F
Alexandre Grenier	Iserlohn Roosters 	35	12	27	39 	−1 	12 	F
Yasin Ehliz 	EHC Red Bull München	38	19	19	38 	+19	28 	F
Jon Matsumoto 	Kölner Haie 	37	16	22	38 	+7 	22 	F
===Leading goaltenders===
Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, are included in this list.
Player 	Team 	TOI 	GA	GAA 	SA 	Sv% 	SO
Felix Brueckmann 	Adler Mannheim 	1096	28	1.53	437 	93.6	4
Joacim Eriksson 	Schwenninger Wild Wings	1812	74	2.45	1074	93.1	2
Tomáš Pöpperle 	Fischtown Pinguins 	743 	29	2.34	382 	92.4	0
Dustin Strahlmeier 	Grizzlys Wolfsburg 	1402	49	2.10	636 	92.3	2
Mathias Niederberger	Eisbären Berlin 	1609	57	2.13	735 	92.2	5
==References==
==External links==
*Official website
2020–21
Category:2020–21 in German ice hockey
DEL