2021–22 SHL season

The 2021–22 SHL season was the 47th season of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). The regular season began on 11 September 2021 and ended on 15 March 2022, it was then followed by the playoffs and the relegation playoffs. The league consisted of 14 teams; Timrå IK returned to the SHL after two seasons in HockeyAllsvenskan, having won the 2020–21 HockeyAllsvenskan.
Like the previous season, the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden resulted in many games being postponed, resulting in an uneven schedule.
==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
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
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 will play 52 games, playing each of the other thirteen teams four times: twice on home ice, and twice away from home. Points will be awarded for each game, where three points will be 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 will finish with the most points will be crowned the league champion.
The four best teams of the regular season will qualify for the 2022–23 Champions Hockey League (if the play-off winners qualify through the regular season, its spot will go to the 5th placed team of the regular season; if a Swedish team wins 2021–22 Champions Hockey League, three best teams of the regular season will qualify, and, if the play-off winners qualify through the regular season, its spot will go to the 4th placed team of the regular season).
===Standings===
Pos	Team 	Pld	W 	OTW	OTL	L 	GF 	GA 	GD 	Pts	Qualification
1 	Rögle BK 	52 	27	5 	9 	11	154	129	+25	100	Qualification to Quarter-finals
2 	Luleå HF 	52 	25	7 	8 	12	161	117	+44	97 	Qualification to Quarter-finals
3 	Skellefteå AIK 	52 	27	5 	3 	17	167	122	+45	94 	Qualification to Quarter-finals
4 	Frölunda HC 	52 	21	10 	4 	17	155	139	+16	87 	Qualification to Quarter-finals
5 	Växjö Lakers 	52 	22	6 	7 	17	153	144	+9 	85 	Qualification to Quarter-finals
6 	Färjestad BK 	52 	22	6 	4 	20	153	149	+4 	82 	Qualification to Quarter-finals
7 	Örebro HK 	52 	20	8 	5 	19	144	123	+21	81 	Qualification to Eighth-finals
8 	Leksands IF 	52 	20	4 	7 	21	148	154	−6 	75 	Qualification to Eighth-finals
9 	IK Oskarshamn 	52 	20	3 	6 	23	140	163	−23	72 	Qualification to Eighth-finals
10 	Brynäs IF 	52 	17	6 	6 	23	126	138	−12	69 	Qualification to Eighth-finals
11 	Linköping HC 	52 	16	8 	5 	23	121	142	−21	69 	
12 	Malmö Redhawks 	52 	17	4 	8 	23	134	153	−19	67 	
13 	Djurgårdens IF (R)	52 	14	5 	6 	27	130	169	−39	58 	Qualification to Play Out
14 	Timrå IK 	52 	14	5 	4 	29	133	177	−44	56 	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 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) Örebro HK vs. (10) Brynäs IF====
====(8) Leksands IF vs. (9) IK Oskarshamn====
===Quarter-finals===
====(1) Rögle BK vs. (9) IK Oskarshamn====
====(2) Luleå HF vs. (7) Örebro HK====
====(3) Skellefteå AIK vs. (6) Färjestad BK====
====(4) Frölunda HC vs. (5) Växjö Lakers====
===Semi-finals===
====(1) Rögle BK vs. (6) Färjestad BK====
====(2) Luleå HF vs. (4) Frölunda HC====
===Finals===
====(2) Luleå HF vs. (6) Färjestad 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 held home advantage over the series, playing at home for the odd-numbered games while the lower-seeded team was at home for the even-numbered games.
==References==
==External links==
*
*SHL on eurohockey.com
*SHL on eliteprospects.com
2021-22
Category:2022 in ice hockey