2008–09 Elitserien season

The 2008–09 Elitserien season was the 34th season of Elitserien. It began on September 15, 2008, with the regular season ending February 28, 2009. The playoffs of the 85th Swedish Championship ended on April 8, with Färjestads BK taking the championship. The season started earlier than previous seasons due to the 2009 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships in Switzerland had been scheduled earlier than normal.

Regular season
Djurgårdens IF changed their arena for home matches from Stockholm Globe Arena to Hovet. Also, Rögle BK changed to a new arena, Lindab Arena in Ängelholm.

The first goal of the season was scored by Lars Eller of Frölunda HC in Jönköping against HV71.

In the end of the regular season, Peter Forsberg played three games for Modo Hockey, totalling 3 points.

The top team: Färjestads BK, Linköpings HC, Frölunda HC, HV71, Luleå HF, Skellefteå AIK, Brynäs IF, and Timrå IK advanced to the playoffs. Whereas the bottom two teams advanced to the 2008-09 Kvalserien.

Playoffs
After the regular season, the standard of 8 teams qualified for the playoffs.

Playoff bracket
In the first round, the highest remaining seed chose which of the four lowest remaining seeds to be matched against. In the second round, the highest remaining seed was matched against the lowest remaining seed. In each round the higher-seeded team was awarded home ice advantage. Each best-of-seven series followed a 1–1–1–2–1–1 format: the higher-seeded team played at home for games 2 and 4 (plus 5 and 7 if necessary), and the lower-seeded team was at home for game 1, 3 and 6 (if necessary).