Three periods
A game is three 20-minute periods of 5-on-5 hockey, with intermissions in between. The team that scores more goals wins.
Sweden · 2026–27
Allsvenskan, explained.
Sweden. One table. One SHL promotion. Here’s the quick guide.
HockeyAllsvenskan is Sweden's second tier — the promotion race into the SHL. The regular season feeds a playoff whose winner can move up; the SHL's last-place club can move down.
A short history
HockeyAllsvenskan sits directly under the SHL. Winning this league is the main path onto Sweden's top-flight map.
How the league works
Same ice, same three periods — then a points race into a national playoff.
Standings points
A regulation win is worth three points. An overtime or shootout win is two. An overtime or shootout loss is one. A regulation loss is zero.
Overtime
Most European regular-season games that are tied after 60 minutes go to a short overtime, then a shootout. Playoff overtime is usually played until someone scores.
Power play
A penalty puts the other team a skater up. That extra-man advantage is the power play; the shorthanded side is on the penalty kill.
Offside and icing
A player cannot enter the offensive zone ahead of the puck (offside). Icing is shooting the puck the length of the ice from behind centre; play stops and the faceoff comes back.
The table
HockeyAllsvenskan ranks clubs by points through the regular season, then seeds the playoff that awards the SHL promotion.
The season
Training camp in late summer, a fall-to-spring regular season, then a spring playoff.
How the playoffs work
The champion is the club that wins the SHL promotion playoff — not always the team that finished first in the regular season.
The table
A long regular season ranks the second-tier clubs.
Promotion playoffs
The top finishers play a series of rounds. The winner earns the right to face, or replace, an SHL club under the published promotion rules.
The prize
Promotion into the SHL — not a separate national cup.