2020–21 SHL season

The 2020–21 SHL season was the 46th season of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). The regular season began in September 2020 and ended on 3 April 2021, it was then followed by the playoffs and the relegation playoffs. The league consisted of the 14 teams that competed in the 2019–20 season; because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden, no relegation or promotion took place after the previous season. The Växjö Lakers won the regular season for the third time in club history. In the SHL qualifier, Brynäs IF defeated HV71 in five games to stay in the SHL. The Växjö Lakers won the Le Mat Trophy for the third time, defeating Rögle BK by 4 games to 1 in the playoffs final.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden, many of the teams have had their players affected, causing many regular season games to be moved forward and the end of the regular season to be postponed multiple times.
==Teams==
Team 	City 	Arena 	Capacity
Brynäs IF 	Gävle 	Monitor ERP Arena 	7,909
Djurgårdens IF	Stockholm 	Hovet 	8,094
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
IK Oskarshamn 	Oskarshamn	Be-Ge Hockey Center 	3,275
Rögle BK 	Ängelholm 	Catena Arena 	5,150
Skellefteå AIK	Skellefteå	Skellefteå Kraft Arena	6,001
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.
===Standings===
Pos	Team 	Pld	W 	OTW	OTL	L 	GF 	GA 	GD 	Pts	Qualification
1 	Växjö Lakers 	52 	27	7 	7 	11	153	112	+41	102	Qualification to Quarter-finals
2 	Rögle BK 	52 	27	4 	9 	12	164	124	+40	98 	Qualification to Quarter-finals
3 	Leksands IF 	52 	25	7 	5 	15	156	134	+22	94 	Qualification to Quarter-finals
4 	Skellefteå AIK	52 	24	8 	5 	15	154	122	+32	93 	Qualification to Quarter-finals
5 	Luleå HF 	52 	24	4 	8 	16	150	131	+19	88 	Qualification to Quarter-finals
6 	Örebro HK 	52 	25	4 	4 	19	154	144	+10	87 	Qualification to Quarter-finals
7 	Frölunda HC 	52 	27	1 	1 	23	133	131	+2 	84 	Qualification to Eighth-finals
8 	Färjestad BK 	52 	18	11 	5 	18	157	143	+14	81 	Qualification to Eighth-finals
9 	Malmö Redhawks	52 	19	4 	2 	27	123	151	−28	67 	Qualification to Eighth-finals
10 	Djurgårdens IF	52 	17	5 	4 	26	139	151	−12	65 	Qualification to Eighth-finals
11 	IK Oskarshamn 	52 	18	2 	5 	27	142	163	−21	63 	
12 	Linköping HC 	52 	17	4 	3 	28	132	166	−34	62 	
13 	Brynäs IF 	52 	14	4 	7 	27	131	176	−45	57 	Qualification to Play Out
14 	HV71 (R) 	52 	12	5 	5 	30	127	167	−40	51 	Qualification to Play Out
==Playoffs==
Ten teams qualify for the playoffs: the top six teams in the regular season have a bye to the quarterfinals, 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 2nd-ranked team will face the other winner of the first round, the 3rd-ranked team will face the 6th-ranked team, and the 4th-ranked team will face the 5th-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, in the third round as best-of-five series and in the second and fourth 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 semi-finals, the higher-seeded teams are at home for games 1 and 2 (plus 5 if necessary) while the lower-seeded teams are at home for game 3 (plus 4 if necessary). In the quarter-finals and the finals, 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) Frölunda HC vs. (10) Djurgårdens IF====
====(8) Färjestad BK vs. (9) Malmö Redhawks====
===Quarter-finals===
====(1) Växjö Lakers vs. (8) Färjestad BK====
====(2) Rögle BK vs. (7) Frölunda HC====
====(3) Leksands IF vs. (6) Örebro HK====
====(4) Skellefteå AIK vs. (5) Luleå HF====
===Semi-finals===
====(1) Växjö Lakers vs. (6) Örebro HK====
====(2) Rögle BK vs. (4) Skellefteå AIK====
===Finals===
====(1) Växjö Lakers vs. (2) Rögle BK====
==Play Out==
Teams 13 and 14 from the regular season played a best-of-seven series, with the winner remaining in the SHL and the loser relegated to the second tier, HockeyAllsvenskan. The higher-seeded team had home advantage over the series, playing at home for games 1 and 3 (plus 5 and 7 if necessary) while the lower-seeded team was at home for games 2 and 4 (plus 6 if necessary).
==References==
==External links==
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Category:2021 in ice hockey 
2020-21