2023–24 Liiga season

The 2023–24 Liiga season is the 49th season of the Liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since its formation in 1975.
== Format ==
The regular season started on Tuesday, 12 September 2023, with a match between Rauman Lukko and Hämeenlinnan Pallokerho in Rauma. The match was the only one of the day. As in previous seasons, 450 matches will be played in the regular season, 60 for each team. There are 25 full rounds of seven matches played, 16 of which are on Saturdays. A little more than half of the regular season, 262 matches, are played on Fridays and Saturdays. Most weekday games are played on Wednesdays (98). There were a total of 106 game days in the regular season, i.e. eight less than in the previous season.
As usual, the series is on break in November for a week and a half while the national teams play in the Euro Hockey Tour. The Christmas break lasts 5–7 days, depending on the team, with the exception of KalPa, which participates on the 26th–31st of December in the Spengler Cup in Switzerland. For other teams, the Christmas break ends on Saint Stephen's day, 26 December. The regular season ends on Tuesday, 12 March 2024.
== Teams ==
Team 	City 	Head coach 	Arena 	Capacity	Captain
HIFK 	Helsinki 	Ville Peltonen 	Helsingin jäähalli 	 	Jori Lehterä
HPK 	Hämeenlinna 	Maso Lehtonen 	Pohjantähti Areena 	 	Juuso Hietanen
Ilves 	Tampere 	Antti Pennanen 	Nokia Arena 	 	Niklas Friman
Jukurit 	Mikkeli 	Olli Jokinen 	Ikioma Areena 	 	Pekka Jormakka
JYP 	 	Jukka Rautakorpi 20 Dec 2023Mikko Heiskanen	LähiTapiola Areena 	 	Teemu Eronen
KalPa 	Kuopio 	Petri Karjalainen 	Olvi Areena 	 	Tuomas Kiiskinen
KooKoo 	Kouvola 	Olli Salo 	Lumon Areena 	 	Otto Paajanen
Kärpät 	Oulu 	Lauri Marjamäki 18 Dec 2023Ville Mäntymaa 	Oulun Energia Areena 	 	Atte Ohtamaa
Lukko 	Rauma 	Tomi Lämsä 	Kivikylän Areena 	 	Julius Mattila
Pelicans	Lahti 	Tommi Niemelä 	Isku Areena 	 	Miika Roine
SaiPa 	Lappeenranta	Ville Hämäläinen 	Lappeenrannan jäähalli	 	Miska Siikonen
Sport 	Vaasa 	Risto Dufva 	Vaasan Sähkö Areena 	 	Sebastian Stålberg
Tappara 	Tampere 	Rikard Grönborg 	Nokia Arena 	 	Otto Rauhala
TPS 	Turku 	Tommi Miettinen 	Gatorade Center 	 	Juhani Jasu
Ässät 	Pori 	Jere Härkälä 	Enersense Areena 	 	Jesse Joensuu
== Regular season standings ==
Top six advanced straight to the quarter-finals, while teams between 7th and 10th positions play a wild card round for the final two spots. The SM-liiga is a closed series and thus there is no relegation to the Mestis.
=== Statistics ===
====Scoring leaders====
The following shows the top ten players leading the league in points.
Player	Team 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	Ilves 	60	20	44	64	+19	63
 	JYP 	60	21	42	63	+4 	18
 	Ilves 	58	21	38	59	+17	22
 	Kärpät 	60	30	27	57	+3 	20
 	Tappara 	55	19	38	57	+11	22
 	Kärpät 	59	22	34	56	+7 	26
 	HIFK 	57	6 	50	56	+10	36
 	Pelicans	55	9 	45	54	+14	14
 	Pelicans	51	18	32	50	+23	28
 	KooKoo 	57	15	35	50	+10	74
== Playoffs ==
=== Bracket ===
===Wild-card round===
===Quarter-finals===
===Semi-finals===
=== Bronze medal game ===
===Finals===
Tappara wins the finals 4-1.
==Final rankings==
align=center	Tappara
align=center	Pelicans
align=center	Kärpät
4 	KalPa
5 	Ilves
6 	Jukurit
7 	HIFK
8 	TPS
9 	Lukko
10 	Sport
11 	Ässät
12 	KooKoo
13 	JYP
14 	HPK
15 	SaiPa
== Broadcast rights ==
For the 2023–2024 season, Telia had transferred the television rights of the SM-liiga to MTV, which it owns. Telia had acquired the broadcast rights starting from the 2018–2019 season, and with the new agreement MTV has the rights until the end of the 2026–2027 season. MTV pays more than 90 million euros for television rights over four seasons, and the company has admitted that the operation is loss-making. The broadcasts are produced by MTV and during the season games can be seen live from C More, Discovery+, DNA, Elisa Viihde, MTV and Telia.
== References ==
Category:Liiga seasons
Liiga
Liiga