With Europe's top national leagues coming out of the international break, the end of the regular season is near with Champions Hockey League qualification spots up for grabs in the competition's six founding leagues.
CHL News
With the 2015–16 edition of the Champions Hockey League now complete, it's time to turn our attention to qualification for the 2016–17 season.
Just as was the case this season, next season's CHL will consist of 48 teams, including 38 from the six founding leagues – Austrian EBEL, Czech Extraliga, Finnish Liiga, German DEL, Swedish Hockey League and Swiss NLA – and 10 wild-cards. Of these 38 clubs, 26 are founding members and two clubs from each of the six leagues will also qualify based on their finish this season.
To determine which two teams from each league qualify, the following criteria is used, taking the top two teams which are not founding members:
1. national champion (playoff winner)
2. regular-season winner
3. regular-season runner-up
4. playoff runner-up
5. playoff semi-finalists (ranked by regular-season finish)
6. playoff quarter-finalists (ranked by regular-season finish)
Following the recently completed international break, the domestic leagues get back to business on Tuesday, with some of the leagues in their home stretches and some CHL qualification spots on the line. Below we take a look at the six founding leagues, with wild-card qualifiers to be examined at a later date.
Austria
Founding members – Red Bull Salzburg, Vienna Capitals.
There are only three rounds left in the EBEL's “Pick Round”, which concludes next Sunday. In 1st place is Salzburg, who have a 3-point lead on Orli Znojmo and a 4-point lead on Black Wings Linz. With Salzburg already in as a founding member, it is likely that either Znojmo or Linz will qualify based on regular-season finish, and a huge game between the two teams on Tuesday night in Znojmo could go a long way to determining which one. The other qualifier would be determined in the playoffs.
Czech Republic
Founding members – Bili Tygri Liberec, Dynamo Pardubice, Sparta Prague, Vitkovice Ostrava.
With eight rounds left in the regular season, it's looking more and more like Liberec and Sparta will finish 1 and 2, which would mean that the two qualifiers will be determined in the playoffs. There, the most likely candidates look like Mountfield Hradec Kralove, HC Plzen, BK Mlada Boleslav and HC Olomouc, who are currently placed 3 through 6 and would qualify directly for the quarter-finals if the standings don't change. Teams ranked 7 through 10 – currently PSG Zlin, Pirati Chomutov, Ocelari Trinec and Kometa Brno – must qualify for the quarters via a play-in round.
Finland
Founding members – IFK Helsinki, JYP Jyvaskyla, KalPa Kuopio, Karpat Oulu, Tappara Tampere, TPS Turku.
With most teams having played 50 out of 60 regular season games already, the top four teams are all founding members (HIFK, Karpat, JYP, Tappara), which makes it nearly certain that both qualifiers will come via the playoffs. In 5th place are SaiPa Lappeenranta, who are 16 points out of 2nd and would need to leap-frog four teams. If the standings don't change, SaiPa are the only non-founding member who would qualify directly to the quarters as a top-six finisher, with Lukko Rauma just on the outside in 7th, and bidding for a third-straight CHL appearance. Pelicans Lahti and Sport Vaasa are also currently in position to qualify for the play-in round.
Germany
Founding members – Adler Mannheim, Eisbaren Berlin, ERC Ingolstadt, Krefeld Pinguine.
Things are very tight at the top of the DEL standings, with the top six teams separated by only 7 points! What's more, only one of them – 1st-placed Eisbaren Berlin – are a CHL permanent member, meaning it's wide open for someone to qualify based on their regular-season finish (or even two teams, if a permanent member ends up winning the title).
After Eisbaren, the next five teams are DEG Dusseldorf, Red Bull Munich, the Iserlohn Roosters, the Nuremburg Ice Tigers and Grizzlys Wolfsburg. These teams are packed so closely together that the order of the top six could change each game day until the end of the regular season, but it's probable they will all qualify directly to the quarters. Big “6-pointers” coming up this Friday include Eisbaren–Wolfsburg and Munich–Ice Tigers.
Sweden
Founding members – Djurgarden Stockholm, Farjestad Karlstad, Frolunda Gothenburg, HV71 Jonkoping, Linkoping HC, Lulea Hockey.
With 13 rounds to go in the regular season and with an 8-point lead atop the standings, Skelleftea AIK look to be a safe bet to return to the CHL once again – with the next four teams behind them all founding members, they'd have to fall below Frolunda and Lulea to 3rd place (a 16-point cushion) to lose it based on regular-season finish. The next highest non-founding member is 6th-placed Brynas Gavle. The Vaxjo Lakers, who have qualified for each of the first two CHL seasons, are 8th and would have to enter the play-in round if the standings don't change, but are also in the race to re-qualify.
Switzerland
Founding members – EV Zug, Fribourg-Gotteron, SC Bern, ZSC Lions Zurich.
With the end of the Swiss regular season fast approaching – teams have between three and six games left with the final games coming on 27 February – the team with the best chance to qualify based on regular-season finish is Geneve-Servette. It's no guarantee, however – the ZSC Lions are in top spot with 88 points and Geneve are five points back, 2 up on Zug. Defending national champions and CHL Semi-Finalists HC Davos are 4th with 79 points, and have an eye on re-qualifying, although that might have to be done in the playoffs. Geneve host Davos on Tuesday, and if Davos can win in regulation they'll be within a point with a game in hand. HC Lugano have also already secured a berth among the league's elite eight.