| 2020–21 DEL season | |
| League: | Deutsche Eishockey Liga |
| Sport: | Ice hockey |
| Duration: | 17 December 2020 – 7 May 2021 |
| No Of Teams: | 14 |
| No Of Games: | 364 |
| Season: | Regular season |
| Season Champs: | Adler Mannheim |
| Mvp: | Marcel Noebels |
| Top Scorer: | Joe Whitney (45 points) |
| Finals: | Finals |
| Finals Champ: | Eisbären Berlin |
| Finals Runner-Up: | Grizzlys Wolfsburg |
| Finals Mvp: | Ryan McKiernan |
| Seasonslist: | Deutsche Eishockey Liga#DEL seasons |
| Seasonslistnames: | DEL |
| Prevseason Link: | 2019–20 DEL season |
| Prevseason Year: | 2019–20 |
| Nextseason Link: | 2021–22 DEL season |
| Nextseason Year: | 2021–22 |
The 2020–21 Deutsche Eishockey Liga season was the 27th season since the founding of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the league announced 13 November 2020 as the start date, which was later postponed to a later date.[1] [2] On 19 November 2020, the DEL announced that the season would start on 17 December 2020.[3]
Eisbären Berlin won their eighth title, after defeating the Grizzlys Wolfsburg in three games.[4]
The season saw the same 14 teams as last year, as all teams were given a license.[5] Adler Mannheim will be the defending champions from the 2018–19 DEL season as the 2019–20 season was ended after the regular season. At that point, EHC Red Bull München, who won three consecutive DEL titles until Mannheim’s 2019 triumph (a 4–1 series win against Munich), were the league leaders and had clinched the first seed for the DEL playoffs.
This season would have marked the return of promotion and relegation, as the last placed team would have been relegated to the second tier DEL2 and the 2020–21 DEL2 champions would have replaced them for the 2021–22 season DEL.[6] On 23 October 2020, the relegation rule was moved to next season. Still, the DEL2 champion can be promoted at the end of this season, so next season could be played with 15 teams.[7] The 14 teams played the regular season in two groups (North and South). They played the teams from the same group four times and the teams from the other group twice. After that, the top four clubs from both groups advanced to the playoffs. The quarterfinals were played within the group before, from the semifinals on, it was mixed. All playoff rounds were best of three.
| Team | City | Arena | Capacity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Augsburger Panther | Augsburg | Curt Frenzel Stadium | 6,218 | |
| Eisbären Berlin | Berlin | Mercedes-Benz Arena | 14,200 | |
| Fischtown Pinguins | Bremerhaven | Eisarena Bremerhaven | 4,674 | |
| Düsseldorfer EG | Düsseldorf | ISS Dome | 13,400 | |
| ERC Ingolstadt | Ingolstadt | Saturn Arena | 4,815 | |
| Iserlohn Roosters | Iserlohn | Eissporthalle Iserlohn | 5,000 | |
| Kölner Haie | Cologne | Lanxess Arena | 18,500 | |
| Krefeld Pinguine | Krefeld | König Palast | 9,000 | |
| Adler Mannheim | Mannheim | SAP Arena | 13,600 | |
| EHC Red Bull München | Munich | Olympia Eishalle | 6,256 | |
| Nürnberg Ice Tigers | Nuremberg | Arena Nürnberger Versicherung | 7,810 | |
| Schwenninger Wild Wings | Villingen-Schwenningen | Helios Arena | 6,215 | |
| Straubing Tigers | Straubing | Eisstadion am Pulverturm | 6,000 | |
| Grizzlys Wolfsburg | Wolfsburg | Eis Arena Wolfsburg | 4,660 |
All rounds were played in a best of three format. The first round was played in the regional group.
The quarterfinals were played between 20 and 24 April 2021 in a best-of-three mode.
The semifinals were played between 26 and 29 April 2021 in a best-of-three format.
The final was played between 2 and 7 May 2021 in a best-of-three format.
The awards were announced on 2 May 2021.[8]
| Award | Player | |
|---|---|---|
| Player of the year | Marcel Noebels | |
| Goaltender of the year |  Joacim Eriksson | |
| Defenceman of the year | Marcel Brandt | |
| Forward of the year | Marcel Noebels | |
| Rookie of the year | Florian Elias | |
| Coach of the year | Thomas Popiesch | |
 Ryan McKiernan |
List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM | POS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 37 | 21 | 24 | 45 | 0 | 22 | F | |||
| 37 | 20 | 24 | 44 | +3 | 56 | F | |||
| 38 | 12 | 32 | 44 | +2 | 8 | F | |||
| 38 | 7 | 35 | 42 | +23 | 26 | F | |||
| 36 | 6 | 35 | 42 | +17 | 12 | F | |||
| 38 | 23 | 18 | 41 | +22 | 16 | F | |||
| 38 | 19 | 20 | 39 | +15 | 10 | F | |||
| 35 | 12 | 27 | 39 | −1 | 12 | F | |||
| 38 | 19 | 19 | 38 | +19 | 28 | F | |||
| 37 | 16 | 22 | 38 | +7 | 22 | F |
Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, are included in this list.
| Player | Team | TOI | GA | GAA | SA | Sv% | SO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1096 | 28 | 1.53 | 437 | 93.6 | 4 | |||
| 1812 | 74 | 2.45 | 1074 | 93.1 | 2 | |||
| 743 | 29 | 2.34 | 382 | 92.4 | 0 | |||
| 1402 | 49 | 2.10 | 636 | 92.3 | 2 | |||
| 1609 | 57 | 2.13 | 735 | 92.2 | 5 |