[5] Teams from the Liiga participate in the IIHF's annual Champions Hockey League (CHL), competing for the European Trophy.

[6] The SM-liiga wasn't established unter the Finnish ice Hockey Association that oversees all the other leagues and cups in the country.

For the 2005–2006 season, the Mestis winner KalPa was promoted to the series, which met the criteria required for a place in the league.

[11][12]The league changed its marketing name to just Liiga for the 2013–14 season, and introduced a new logo to match.

Due to the decision, the final round of the regular season and the playoffs were not played, and the 2020 Finnish hockey championship was not awarded.

Each match consists of 60 minutes regulation time, and in the event of a tie, the winner is decided by a three-on-three sudden death, 5-minute overtime.

Teams placing between fifth and twelfth (inclusive) will play preliminary play-offs best-out-of-five – the four winners take the last four slots to quarter-finals.

Each playoff match consists of a 60-minute regulation time which in the event of a tie is followed by extra 20-minute periods of 5-on-5 sudden death overtime, in which the first team to score wins.

It takes a one-and-half-week break around the end of October to the beginning of November, when Team Finland competes in Karjala Tournament.

The winners of the playoffs receive gold medals and the Kanada-malja, the championship trophy of the Liiga.

[22] The winners of the regular season receive a trophy (Harry Lindbladin muistopalkinto) as well,[23] though it is considered less prestigious than the bronze medals of the playoffs.

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points These are the top-ten regular season point-scorers for import players in SM-liiga history.