The off season saw some controversy regarding the future visions of Elitserien, with teams having differing views on the matter.   All things settled for now, this is a quick look at the teams playing Elitserien in the 2009/2010 season.

Preview Elitserien 2009/2010

The post-season in Sweden started off with a heated discussion on the future of elite hockey in Sweden.  One group of clubs wanted to examine the possibilities of starting a multi-national league, possibly with some ties to KHL, while another preferred status quo.   After the dust settled, a deal was struck between all 12 Elitserien teams that guaranteed that the league continues in its present form for the next two seasons.  A development company spearheaded by former NHL player and Färjestad club manager Håkan Loob will in the meantime investigate different options for the future, including a multi-national league and cooperation with KHL.

Elitserien 2009/2010 will be played between the same 12 teams as last season and the outlook is for the same top teams as last year.

Modo, Djurgården, Rögle and Södertälje was at the bottom of the league table after the 2008/2009 season, with Rögle and Södertälje having to reaffirm their status as Elitserien teams playing Kvalserien against the top teams from HockeyAllsvenskan.  Modo has lost Victor Hedman to the NHL, but other than that looks rather intact from last year, and stands a good chance to improve on last year's disappointing result.  Djurgården has lost their two best scorers from last season, Fredrik Bremberg och Niklas Anger, but Marcus Nilson and Mathias Tjärnqvist will fill out their shoes nicely.  Rögle has fared worse, losing star defende Kenny Jönsson and Cam and Chris Abbott, two brothers from Canada who were very successful in their first season in Sweden.  Södertälje too is looking weaker than last year, and it will be no surprise if Rögle and Södertälje are the two teams that will need to try and requalify for Elitserien again come spring.

Of the four middle-of-the-pack teams, Luleå has gone through the most changes in the off-season.  They have lost their three best scorers from last season to KHL teams.  On the upside they have signed strong forwards in Karl Fabricius, Jonathan Hedström and the Abbott brothers.  Pär Arlbrandt has been a dependable goal scorer in HockeyAllsvenskan, but has not had the same success in Elitserien, perhaps this year will see that change.  Luleå looks as strong if not stronger than last year, and will probably move further up in the standings this year.  Skellefteå has lost top scorer Niko Dimitrakos, also to the KHL, and Mikael Renberg, but has signed a Swedish national team regular in Fredrik Warg and French sniper Pierre-Edouard Bellemare who had a stellar season in HockeyAllsvenskan last year.  Timrå and Brynäs by comparison has had a pretty quiet off-season and may have to struggle to reach the same result as last season.

All top four teams from last season are likely to be found at the top of the tables again this season.  Frölunda has signed NHL-returnees Per-Johan Axelsson and Joel Lundqvist and is arguably stronger than last year.  So strong in fact that they recently cut Nordquist and Fabricius, two Swedish national team regulars, from their roster.  HV71 is mustering pretty much the same team that led them all the way to the finals last year, is quite possible that we will see them at the very top this year.  Regular season runners-up from last year, Linköping, is still waiting for their first championship, and they look strong again this year.  They have had some movement among their defensemen, but with Niclas Hävelid returning to Sweden from the NHL, their defense looks solid.  Linköping will be a contender again this year.  Färjestad won both the regular season and the championship last year, but has since exchanged large parts of their roster.  There are a few of the older players that have left, Rhodin, Nordström and Jönsson.  On top of that their immensely successful playoff goaltender Jonas Gustavsson has left for Toronto in NHL.  Will their replacements be able to keep Färjestad at the top for yet another team.  Come May we will know the answer.