SHL regular season ends

09 Mar 2014 | Fredrik Pålsson

The regular season in Swedens top league SHL is over and the playoff will start with a new phase called Play In on Monday.

As expected Skellefteå won the regular season and even if their form weren't brilliant at the end of the regular season they on nine points ahead of Frölunda and eight more points ahead of the big surprise Växjö who finished in third place.

Behind the top trio there was some drama about which teams would qualify directly for the quarter finals. Brynäs and Färjestad clinched place four and five with wins in the last round just before Luleå who finished at sixth and the last quarter final spot after a quite weak finish to the regular season.

Leksand missed the quarter finals with one point and will now play HV71 in the best of three Play In. HV71 who had a terrible season by their standards but perhaps they can find a back door into the playoffs.

Eight and ninth placed MODO and Linköping will play in the other matchup. MODO had the best goalie of the regular season in Linus Ullmark while Linköping had the top players in goals, assists and points. Pär Alrbrandt had an impressive 71 points (including 45 assists) while Chad Kolarik was the best goal scorer with 30 goals. It's quite remarkable that a team with such offensive skills are so low in the standings but only two teams have conceded more goals so Linköping's defense and goaltending is a question mark.

The bottom two in the league was Örebro and AIK, it was clear already with several games left to play. They will play four teams from Hockeyallsvenskan in Kvalserien and will have to fight hard to save their places in SHL.

So with the playoff coming up the question is if anyone can beat Skellefteå. Neither Frölunda nor Växjö feels like title winners in my eyes. Brynäs has a good team but are hurt by injuries and will miss Ryan Gunderson for the rest of the season. Färjestad has the tradition of winning but are they really good enough this year? Luleå has the best defense of the league and with some offensive stars like Klasen and Omark they could be a contender, but how good is the form. Of the teams in the Play In phase it feels like Linköping could have a chance of going all the way if they get their defense together.