Swiss Ice Hockey

The teams will gather for a league assembly in the PostFinance Arena on Monday. Apparently, they will also discuss a mode change.

Pre-Playoffs also in Switzerland?
swisshockeynews.ch

As the Neue Zürcher Zeitung reports, it is "already clear what the league assembly will result in". According to them, there will be no relegation in both leagues and the champion of the Swiss League will be promoted as long as they can demonstrate that they are able to shoulder a budget of about CHF 10 million.

There is, however, also a third point they add that has not yet been discussed. Apparently, there will be a mode change. Ahead of the playoffs, the teams who will be placed on seventh to tenth place will play a best-of-three pre-playoff series to fight for the last remaining playoff spots. This is not a new format, as the Swedish Hockey League has had this system in place for years. It would, however, certainly be a novelty for the Swiss leagues.

In addition, as Le Matin writes, there is the idea that teams should have eight import slots available. For this to work, the definition of import would be redefined. All players not eligible for the Swiss national team would be counted as imports, there would be no foreign players playing with a Swiss licence anymore.

( 09 May 2020 | mso* )