Sweden's top professional hockey league could have seen a big boost in talent this fall by potentially adding locked out NHL players, but has instead opted to not allow short term mercenary talent.

The Kvalserien to Elitserien tournament is Sweden's exciting method of promotion and relegation, and is a format that should be used more often. This year's tournament has already produced a new Elitserien team: the Vaxjo Lakers, who will compete in Sweden's top league for the first time in their club's history.

The Swedish Elitserien Finals are set, with two of the top regular season teams making it through to the final. It's a clash of offense vs. defense, so see how the Skellefteå and Färejstad compare in this finals preview.

The Battle of Helsinki continues as HIFK ties up the series with an OT win, while the Conference Finals begin in the KHL. Meanwhile, the DEL quarterfinals begin in Germany, and the major junior playoff season is about to begin across North America.

The Continental Cup winning Avangard Omsk has been eliminated from the Gagarin Cup playoffs in the KHL, while HIFK gets back into the Helsinki derby in Finland's SM-Liiga. These stories and more European hockey playoff action is part of our daily recap at Puck Worlds.

The Kanada-malje playoffs got underway in Finland, with the Helsinki derby showing some nastiness early as star forward Mikael Granlund was injured on a big hit. Read about that and all your playoff news outside of the NHL in the morning recap on Puck Worlds.

There is plenty of playoff hockey going on across Europe right now, and we have your daily recap of the big games. AIK Stockholm pulls off the shocking sweep, while Avangard Omsk evens up their KHL series with a triple overtime thriller.

The Elitserien playoffs are underway, and the league's top team both last year and in this year's regular season are facing down a 3-0 series deficit. Also, Adam Larsson is shining for Skelleftea while legendary club MODO faces relegation.

Swedish stickwork, Russians invading Italy, Danish sharp shooters and more... it's a link extravaganza!

For the first time in eight years, the Elitserien hockey season featured an actual battle for supremacy in Sweden's capital, as Djurgården and AIK battled it out on the ice in the first of five games at the Ericsson Globe this season. But the battle didn't just take place on the ice.