It has been a spring of discontent in the Swedish Elitserien, but after a meeting in Hockeyligan, the body that governs Elitserien, last night the clubs have agreed to call for a truce.
The feud between the 12 Elitserien clubs heated up during the 2009 IIHF World Championship when the five participating clubs of the Nordic Trophy tournament--Färjestad, Frölunda, Linköping, HV71 and Djurgården--declined to sign a new stakeholder agreement and later announced that they had initiated their own investigation to examine "options of the future". This fuelled speculation that the NT clubs in the near future were planning to leave Elitserien in favour of a Nordic League or even the KHL.
After the meeting last night, the 12 clubs have agreed to conduct a common study about the future of Swedish hockey. The work will be led by Håkan Loob who is currently on leave from his position as General Manager of Färjestad. Within six months results shall be presented to the teams and after that it is up to each team to decide what they want to do.
The clubs committed themselves to a new and comprehensive stakeholders' agreement which will commence when the current agreement expires on 30 April 2010. While significant, this decision may not be congruent with the decision to leave all options open. What will happen remains to be seen. It is however clear, the Elitserien will continue in its current format throughout the 2010/2011 season. |
