In the first phase, ten teams competed in a home-and-away round-robin series (18 games total).

All teams advanced from the regular season to one of two postseason stages, depending on their league position.

Each team played a total of 14 games in this phase; as in the regular season, a home-and-away round-robin was used.

The top four teams at the end of this stage advanced to the semifinals, conducted as a best-of-three playoff.

The team from Ljubljana replaced Terme Olimia Podčetrtek, LTH Castings and Portorož, which finished in the last three positions in the 2016–17 season.