The 2022–23 SHL season was the 48th season of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). The regular season began on 17 September 2022 and ended on 9 March 2023, where it was then followed by the playoffs and the relegation playoffs.
The Växjö Lakers completed their second league and playoff double in three seasons; having finished three points clear of Skellefteå AIK after the 52-game regular season, the two teams met again in the playoff final with the Lakers prevailing 4–1 in the best-of-seven series.
Teams
The league consists of 14 teams; HV71 returned to the SHL after one season in the HockeyAllsvenskan, where they won the 2021–22 title. Djurgårdens IF were relegated to the HockeyAllsvenskan at the end of the previous season, and as a result, Stockholm was not represented by a top-division team for the first time. In the end of the season, Brynäs was relegated for the first time ever, leaving Färjestad as the only team to have played every season in the league since it was founded.
Team City Arena Capacity Brynäs IF Gävle Monitor ERP Arena 7,909 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 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 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
Statistics
Scoring leaders
The following shows the top ten players who led the league in points, at the conclusion of the regular season. 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 IK Oskarshamn 51 37 29 66 +20 45 IK Oskarshamn 52 23 38 61 +11 14 Rögle BK 49 23 23 46 –14 14 Skellefteå AIK 50 11 34 45 +12 28 Skellefteå AIK 48 23 21 44 +19 10 IK Oskarshamn 49 23 20 43 +3 30 HV71 47 21 21 42 +3 16 Timrå IK 52 20 22 42 +8 20 IK Oskarshamn 52 20 22 42 +17 10 Örebro HK 51 19 22 41 –2 12
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 the regular season.
Player Team Växjö Lakers 31 1850:58 21 9 50 8 93.35 1.62 Skellefteå AIK 30 1690:59 22 7 46 6 92.94 1.63 Leksands IF 41 2364:12 24 16 86 4 92.07 2.18 Luleå HF 40 2304:41 16 23 84 6 89.57 2.19 Timrå IK 47 2793:19 24 22 108 4 91.15 2.32 Frölunda HC 41 2336:54 19 19 93 3 91.01 2.39 Örebro HK 37 2238:12 22 15 93 2 90.54 2.49 Växjö Lakers 22 1297:20 13 9 54 2 89.51 2.50 Färjestad BK 32 1917:37 20 12 81 2 91.15 2.53 IK Oskarshamn 32 1915:26 18 13 83 2 92.14 2.60
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 3 (plus 5 and 7 if necessary) while the lower-seeded teams are at home for games 2 and 4 (plus 6 if necessary).
Playoff bracket
Eighth-finals
(7) IK Oskarshamn vs. (10) Luleå HF
(8) Leksands IF vs. (9) Rögle BK
Quarter-finals
(1) Växjö Lakers vs. (10) Luleå HF
(2) Skellefteå AIK vs. (9) Rögle BK
(3) Färjestad BK vs. (6) Frölunda HC
(4) Örebro HK vs. (5) Timrå IK
Semi-finals
(1) Växjö Lakers vs. (6) Frölunda HC
(2) Skellefteå AIK vs. (4) Örebro HK
Finals (1) Växjö Lakers vs. (2) Skellefteå AIK
Statistics
Scoring leaders The following players led the league in points, at the conclusion of the playoffs. 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 Skellefteå AIK 17 3 9 12 +6 12 Skellefteå AIK 16 0 12 12 +2 6 Skellefteå AIK 17 7 4 11 +5 0 Örebro HK 13 5 6 11 +6 10 Timrå IK 7 2 8 10 0 2 Växjö Lakers 18 4 5 9 +3 2 Örebro HK 13 1 8 9 +8 4 Växjö Lakers 18 1 8 9 +7 2 Skellefteå AIK 15 5 3 8 +4 4 Växjö Lakers 18 5 3 8 +2 0
Leading goaltenders The following shows the top five 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 playoffs.
Player Team Växjö Lakers 18 1150:09 12 6 25 4 93.80 1.30 Skellefteå AIK 16 1048:14 9 7 25 5 93.21 1.43 Frölunda HC 12 725:10 6 6 23 2 92.77 1.90 Örebro HK 12 762:08 5 7 27 0 92.26 2.13 Leksands IF 3 189:48 1 2 7 0 88.33 2.21
Play Out The two bottom-placed teams 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, the 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.
Brynäs IF's defeat in the series ended their 63-year run in the Swedish top flight.
SHL awards Award Winner(s) Guldhjälmen Antti Suomela (IK Oskarshamn) Guldpucken Honken Trophy Linus Söderström (Skellefteå AIK) Håkan Loob Trophy Antti Suomela (IK Oskarshamn) Rookie of the Year Filip Bystedt (Linköping HC) Salming Trophy Jonathan Pudas (Skellefteå AIK) Stefan Liv Memorial Trophy Emil Larmi (Växjö Lakers) Guldpipan Linus Öhlund
References
External links
SHL on eurohockey.com SHL on eliteprospects.com