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.
Team 	City 	Arena 	Capacity
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
Modo Hockey 	Örnsköldsvik	Hägglunds Arena 	7,265
IK Oskarshamn 	Oskarshamn 	Be-Ge Hockey Center 	3,275
Rögle BK 	Ängelholm 	Catena Arena 	6,310
Skellefteå AIK	Skellefteå 	Skellefteå Kraft Arena	6,001
Timrå IK 	Timrå 	NHC Arena 	6,000
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.
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.
Player	Team 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	Skellefteå AIK	50	18	33	51	+7 	56
 	Linköping HC 	52	21	26	47	−3 	18
 	Färjestad BK 	52	25	20	45	+8 	20
 	Malmö Redhawks	43	18	26	44	+5 	12
 	Frölunda HC 	51	16	27	43	+6 	4
 	Skellefteå AIK	50	12	30	42	−4 	24
 	Växjö Lakers 	51	23	18	41	+21	10
 	Färjestad BK 	50	20	21	41	+17	49
 	Linköping HC 	52	17	24	41	+8 	8
 	Frölunda HC 	52	15	25	40	+7 	47
====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.
Player	Team 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	Leksands IF 	28	1640:36	19	9 	52	5	92.00	1.90
 	Luleå HF 	33	1887:39	18	14	60	5	91.04	1.91
 	Frölunda HC 	40	2279:54	27	11	77	3	92.04	2.03
 	Skellefteå AIK	36	2073:27	23	12	70	3	91.27	2.03
 	Växjö Lakers 	34	2026:05	20	13	71	4	91.30	2.10
 	Färjestad BK 	26	1469:11	17	7 	52	2	91.13	2.12
 	Rögle BK 	36	2100:28	17	19	79	5	90.33	2.26
 	Timrå IK 	35	2047:28	16	18	83	3	89.87	2.43
 	Linköping HC 	40	2363:30	21	18	99	4	91.41	2.51
 	Leksands IF 	25	1464:12	11	13	62	2	89.89	2.54
==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.
Player	Team 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	Frölunda HC 	14	11	4	15	+9	8
 	Rögle BK 	15	5 	7	12	+1	2
 	Rögle BK 	15	3 	8	11	+2	35
 	Skellefteå AIK	16	6 	4	10	+6	8
 	Rögle BK 	15	5 	5	10	+3	4
 	Frölunda HC 	14	3 	7	10	+2	12
 	Skellefteå AIK	16	1 	9	10	+1	10
 	Skellefteå AIK	13	4 	5	9 	0 	4
 	Skellefteå AIK	11	5 	3	8 	+3	29
 	Skellefteå AIK	16	5 	3	8 	+1	14
====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.
Player	Team 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	Rögle BK 	15	992:17	11	4	22	2	95.45	1.33
 	Skellefteå AIK	14	949:58	11	3	24	3	94.39	1.52
 	Örebro HK 	3 	190:51	1 	2	5 	0	94.95	1.57
 	Luleå HF 	5 	304:48	2 	3	9 	2	90.62	1.77
 	Leksands IF 	5 	313:35	3 	2	10	1	92.91	1.91
==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==
Award 	Winner(s)
Guldhjälmen 	
Guldpucken 	
Honken Trophy 	Lars Johansson (Frölunda HC)
Håkan Loob Trophy 	David Tomášek (Färjestad BK)
Rookie of the Year 	
Salming Trophy 	Axel Sandin Pellikka (Skellefteå AIK)
Stefan Liv Memorial Trophy	Linus Söderström (Skellefteå AIK)
Guldpipan 	Linus Öhlund
==Notes==
==References==
==External links==
*
*SHL on eurohockey.com
*SHL on eliteprospects.com
2023-24