2019–20 SHL season explained

2019–20 SHL season
League:Swedish Hockey League
Sport:Ice hockey
Season:Regular season
Season Champ Name:First place
Season Champs:Luleå HF
Mvp Link:Guldpucken
Top Scorer:Marcus Nilsson (Färjestad BK)
Playoffs:Playoffs
Playoffs Link:
  1. Playoffs
Playoffs Mvp Link:Stefan Liv Memorial Trophy
Nextseason Year:2020–21
Prevseason Year:2018–19
Seasonslistnames:SHL

The 2019–20 SHL season was the 45th season of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). The regular season began in September 2019 and ended in March 2020; it was scheduled to be followed by the Swedish Championship playoffs and the relegation playoffs. The league consisted of 14 teams; Leksands IF returned to the SHL after two seasons in HockeyAllsvenskan, having defeated Mora IK in the 2019 SHL qualifiers. IK Oskarshamn played in the SHL for the first time in franchise history, after defeating Timrå IK in the SHL qualifiers.

On 3 March, Luleå HF won the regular season title for the third time; after a 3–0 win over Rögle BK, coupled with defeats for Skellefteå AIK (0–1 versus Frölunda HC) and Färjestad BK (1–2 versus HV71), Luleå HF held an unassailable 14-point lead with 4 matches remaining.[1]

After the playoffs were initially delayed following the conclusion of the regular season, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden, the season was curtailed on 15 March. No Swedish champions were determined, for the first time since 1952, and the SHL featured the same teams next season.[2]

Teams

TeamCityArenaCapacity
Brynäs IFGävleMonitor ERP Arena7,909
Djurgårdens IFStockholmHovet8,094
Frölunda HCGothenburgScandinavium12,044
Färjestad BKKarlstadLöfbergs Arena8,647
HV71JönköpingKinnarps Arena7,000
Leksands IFLeksandTegera Arena7,650
Linköping HCLinköpingSaab Arena8,500
Luleå HFLuleåCoop Norrbotten Arena6,300
Malmö RedhawksMalmöMalmö Arena13,000
IK OskarshamnOskarshamnBe-Ge Hockey Center3,275
Rögle BKÄngelholmCatena Arena5,150
Skellefteå AIKSkellefteåSkellefteå Kraft Arena6,001
Växjö LakersVäxjöVida Arena5,700
Örebro HKÖrebroBehrn Arena5,150

Regular season

Each team plays 52 games, playing each of the other thirteen teams four times: twice on home ice, and twice away from home. Points are awarded for each game, where three points are 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 finishes with the most points is crowned the league champion.

Standings

Statistics

Scoring leaders

The following shows the top ten players who led the league in points, at the conclusion of the regular season.[3] If two or more skaters are tied (i.e. same number of points, goals and played games), all of the tied skaters are shown.

PlayerTeam
Färjestad BK50124254+960
Rögle BK48123749+867
Frölunda HC48123648−438
Brynäs IF46143246+473
Linköping HC48242145−414
Örebro HK52172643+1022
Färjestad BK52162541+1145
HV7151112940+58
Skellefteå AIK47162339+845
Malmö Redhawks52142438+965

Leading goaltenders

The following shows the top ten 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 regular season.[4]

PlayerTeam
Luleå HF362151:57272757692.811.59
Skellefteå AIK362121:27243763693.521.78
Malmö Redhawks372175:411641776692.762.10
Rögle BK341984:562211070492.132.12
HV71352094:311831475591.532.15
Frölunda HC251410:121201051291.362.17
Örebro HK462653:4024120100491.772.26
Färjestad BK311824:27192969191.452.27
Djurgårdens IF352029:232021377591.832.28
Linköping HC331865:591351373191.732.35

Playoffs

Ten teams qualified for the playoffs: the top six teams in the regular season were scheduled to have a bye to the quarterfinals, while teams ranked seventh to tenth met each other (7 versus 10, 8 versus 9) in a preliminary playoff round.[5] If the finals had occurred and led to a game seven, that game was intended to be played on 2 May 2020.[6]

In the first round the 7th-ranked team were scheduled to meet the 10th-ranked team and the 8th-ranked team were scheduled to meet the 9th-ranked team for a place in the second round. In the second round, the top-ranked team were scheduled to meet the lowest-ranked winner of the first round, the 2nd-ranked team were scheduled to face the other winner of the first round, the 3rd-ranked team were scheduled to face the 6th-ranked team, and the 4th-ranked team were scheduled to meet the 5th-ranked team. In the third round, the highest remaining seed was scheduled to matched against the lowest remaining seed. In each round the higher-seeded team was scheduled to be awarded home advantage.

The playoffs were scheduled to be held as a best-of-three series in the eighth-finals, with the remainder of the playoffs as a best-of-seven series that followed an alternating home team format: the higher-seeded team playing at home for games 1 and 3 (plus 5 and 7 if necessary), and the lower-seeded team at home for game 2 and 4 (plus 6 if necessary).[5] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden, the start of the playoffs was delayed from 14 March,[7] to 24 March.[8] As a result, the playoff format was altered; the eighth-finals were kept as a best-of-three series, but the remaining rounds were changed to a best-of-five series.[9]

On 14 March, the Swedish Hockey League, citing agreement with its fourteen member teams, formally requested that the playoffs be cancelled to the Swedish Ice Hockey Association.[10] Following a meeting the following day, the playoffs were cancelled.[2]

SHL awards

Guldhjälmen

Kodie Curran (Rögle BK)

Guldpucken

Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden

Honken Trophy

Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden

Håkan Loob Trophy

Broc Little (Linköping HC)

Rookie of the Year

Jesper Frödén, (Skellefteå AIK)

Salming Trophy

Kodie Curran, (Rögle BK)

Stefan Liv Memorial Trophy

Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden

Guldpipan

Patrik Sjöberg

Notes and References

  1. News: Luleå vinner grundserien efter överkörning. sv. SVT.se. Sveriges Television. 3 March 2020. 3 March 2020.
  2. News: Svenska Ishockeyförbundets styrelse har enhälligt beslutat att avsluta säsongen 2019/2020. sv. The Swedish Ice Hockey Association's Board of Directors unanimously decided to end the 2019/2020 season. Via TT. TT Nyhetsbyrån. 15 March 2020. 15 March 2020.
  3. Web site: Statistik – Spelare 2019/2020 . SHL . 13 March 2020 . sv . Statistics – Players: Summary.
  4. Web site: Statistik – Målvakter 2019/2020 . SHL . 13 March 2020 . sv . Statistics – Goalkeepers: Summary.
  5. Web site: SERIEBESTÄMMELSER och VERKSAMHETSPLAN Säsongen 2019/2020 . Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
  6. News: Så spelas slutspelet 2020. Hockeybladet. Tomas Hedlund. Swedish. 15 November 2019. 8 February 2021.
  7. Web site: TV-tider SHL slutspel. sv. TV Times SHL playoffs. HockeySverige. Everysport Media Group AB. 14 March 2020. 12 September 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200912172457/https://hockeysverige.se/spel/tv-tider-shl-slutspel. dead.
  8. News: Beslut angående SM-slutspel senast den 20 mars. sv. Decisions regarding the SM playoffs by March 20. SHL.se. Swedish Hockey League. 13 March 2020. 14 March 2020.
  9. News: SM-slutspelet i SHL skjuts upp till följd av regeringens beslut kring publika evenemang. sv. The SHL playoffs are postponed due to the government's decision on public events. SHL.se. Swedish Hockey League. 12 March 2020. 14 March 2020.
  10. News: SHL begär att SM-slutspelet ställs in. sv. SHL requests that the SM playoffs be canceled. SHL.se. Swedish Hockey League. 14 March 2020. 15 March 2020.