2025–26 SHL season
| 2025–26 SHL season | |
|---|---|
| League | Swedish Hockey League |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Duration |
|
| Regular season | |
| Playoffs | |
The 2025–26 SHL season is the 51st season of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). The regular season began on 13 September 2025, and is intended to conclude on 14 March 2026, where it will be followed by the playoffs and the relegation playoffs.[1]
Teams
The league consists of 14 teams; Djurgårdens IF returned to the SHL after three seasons in the HockeyAllsvenskan, where they won the 2024–25 title.[2]
Modo Hockey were relegated to the HockeyAllsvenskan at the end of the previous season, after two seasons in the SHL.[3]
| Team | City | Arena | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brynäs IF | Gävle | Monitor ERP Arena | 7,909 |
| Djurgårdens IF | Stockholm | Hovet | 8,094 |
| Färjestad BK | Karlstad | Löfbergs Arena | 8,647 |
| Frölunda HC | Gothenburg | Scandinavium | 12,044 |
| 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 |
| Örebro HK | Örebro | Behrn Arena | 5,150 |
| Rögle BK | Ängelholm | Catena Arena | 5,150 |
| Skellefteå AIK | Skellefteå | Skellefteå Kraft Arena | 6,001 |
| Timrå IK | Timrå | SCA Arena | 6,000 |
| Växjö Lakers | Växjö | Vida Arena | 5,700 |
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.
Along with the playoff winners, the two highest-ranked teams in the regular season will qualify for the 2026–27 Champions Hockey League.
Standings
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Frölunda HC | 27 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 89 | 38 | +51 | 67 | Qualification to Quarter-finals and Champions Hockey League |
| 2 | Skellefteå AIK | 28 | 16 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 99 | 62 | +37 | 55 | |
| 3 | Rögle BK | 28 | 15 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 82 | 60 | +22 | 53 | Qualification to Quarter-finals |
| 4 | Växjö Lakers | 27 | 15 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 82 | 69 | +13 | 50 | |
| 5 | Malmö Redhawks | 28 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 75 | 81 | −6 | 43 | |
| 6 | Färjestad BK | 28 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 72 | 63 | +9 | 42 | |
| 7 | Djurgårdens IF | 28 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 78 | 97 | −19 | 42 | Qualification to Eighth-finals |
| 8 | Örebro HK | 28 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 75 | 80 | −5 | 37 | |
| 9 | Timrå IK | 28 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 62 | 75 | −13 | 37 | |
| 10 | Brynäs IF | 28 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 81 | 82 | −1 | 36 | |
| 11 | Linköping HC | 28 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 61 | 77 | −16 | 36 | |
| 12 | Luleå HF | 28 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 68 | 75 | −7 | 35 | |
| 13 | HV71 | 28 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 68 | 93 | −25 | 29 | Qualification to Play Out |
| 14 | Leksands IF | 28 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 18 | 49 | 89 | −40 | 23 |
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
Statistics
Scoring leaders
The following shows the top ten players who led the league in points, at the conclusion of games played on 20 December 2025.[4] 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 | GP | G | A | Pts | +/– | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oscar Lindberg | Skellefteå AIK | 28 | 21 | 21 | 42 | +12 | 26 |
| Rickard Hugg | Skellefteå AIK | 28 | 9 | 25 | 34 | +12 | 8 |
| Jonathan Dahlén | Timrå IK | 27 | 19 | 11 | 30 | +10 | 14 |
| Mikkel Aagaard | Skellefteå AIK | 28 | 14 | 15 | 29 | +11 | 4 |
| Jonathan Pudas | Skellefteå AIK | 28 | 9 | 20 | 29 | +5 | 6 |
| Lucas Elvenes | Växjö Lakers | 27 | 9 | 19 | 28 | –1 | 12 |
| Janne Kuokkanen | Malmö Redhawks | 24 | 8 | 19 | 27 | +10 | 43 |
| Patrik Karlkvist | Örebro HK | 28 | 7 | 19 | 26 | –1 | 8 |
| Jakob Silfverberg | Brynäs IF | 28 | 12 | 13 | 25 | –3 | 8 |
| David Quenneville | Örebro HK | 28 | 10 | 15 | 25 | +1 | 8 |
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 games played on 18 December 2025.[5]
| Player | Team | GP | TOI | W | L | GA | SO | Sv% | GAA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lars Johansson | Frölunda HC | 16 | 967:17 | 15 | 1 | 22 | 1 | 94.15 | 1.36 |
| Strauss Mann | Skellefteå AIK | 23 | 1349:56 | 18 | 4 | 34 | 9 | 93.13 | 1.51 |
| Jacob Johansson | Timrå IK | 21 | 1170:08 | 11 | 7 | 41 | 2 | 91.03 | 2.10 |
| Arvid Holm | Rögle BK | 19 | 1081:48 | 11 | 7 | 38 | 2 | 90.52 | 2.11 |
| Emil Larmi | Färjestad BK | 19 | 1113:33 | 10 | 9 | 41 | 0 | 91.05 | 2.21 |
| Joel Lassinantti | Luleå HF | 13 | 749:51 | 4 | 9 | 28 | 1 | 90.48 | 2.24 |
| Jhonas Enroth | Örebro HK | 12 | 729:28 | 6 | 6 | 29 | 2 | 90.68 | 2.39 |
| Damian Clara | Brynäs IF | 22 | 1276:22 | 12 | 10 | 51 | 2 | 89.78 | 2.40 |
| Waltteri Ignatjew | Linköping HC | 15 | 769:58 | 5 | 7 | 31 | 2 | 90.94 | 2.42 |
| Adam Åhman | Växjö Lakers | 16 | 967:50 | 11 | 5 | 39 | 1 | 89.66 | 2.42 |
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.[6]
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 3 (plus 5 and 7 if necessary) while the lower-seeded teams are at home for games 2 and 4 (plus 6 if necessary).[6]
References
- ^ "Här är spelschemat 2025/2026!" (in Swedish). Swedish Hockey League. 16 May 2025.
- ^ Larsson, Mac (25 April 2025). "Mesta mästarna Djurgården tillbaka i SHL" (in Swedish). Sveriges Television. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
- ^ Johansson, Anton; Karlsson, Mattias (25 March 2025). "HV71 vann kvalet – Modo åker ur SHL" [HV71 won the qualifier - Modo relegated from the SHL]. Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 25 July 2025.
- ^ "Spelarstatistik - Statistik" [Player Statistics - Statistik]. Swedish Hockey League (in Swedish). SHL AB. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
- ^ "Målvakter - Statistik" [Goalkeeper - Statistics]. Swedish Hockey League (in Swedish). SHL AB. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
- ^ a b "Seriebestämmelser Säsongen 2025/2026" [Series regulations: Season 2025/2026] (PDF). Swehockey (in Swedish). Swedish Ice Hockey Association. pp. 5–7. Retrieved 25 July 2025.