This just in: Modo demoted!
As in most sports leagues, the bottom feeders of the SHL risk demotion.
The two last teams in the league each face a challenger from the SHA (Hockeyallsvenskan) in a best out of seven series over a slot in next year's SHL.
Karlskrona, who ended in last place, acquired a seasoned goalie veteran, Johan Holmqvist, at the end of the season, and had no problem fending of the SHA champions AIK, securing their SHL status in just five games.
Meanwhile, Modo, who were second to last in the SHL, started of by winning the first two games, then also won the fourth, having a 3-1 lead in the series, but ended up losing in seven against Leksand, who will now replace them in the SHL.
A true disaster for Modo, a team that has delivered dozens of players to the NHL, including Peter Forsberg, Markus Näslund, the Sedins and Alexander Edler...
Being demoted means you lose the TV rights money the SHL teams split between them, you also typically lose most sponsors and attendance at games goes down, while simultanously you can't charge as much for SHA tickets as you would for SHL tickets.
Rebuilding and fighting your way back is tough. The SHA is full of former SHL teams (AIK, Mora, Södertälje, Västerås, Björklöven, Timrå...) who all dream of returning to the limelight, but only two teams per season get a shot at it, and with less than half the player budget of a typical SHL team, it's near impossible to win the best out of seven challenge. Then again, Leksand just showed us that it can be done.
Pretty sure Henrik and Daniel are in shock right now. No one thought Modo would get demoted. But they were.