The 2027 Tauron Hokej Liga (THL) begins today! It will be the first time since 2021 that the league has had 10 teams. The league will also have plenty more games being broadcast and streamed outside the league’s own platform, giving fans easier access to watch.

Trying to project the 2027 standings was no easy task. It feels like there is plenty up in the air, but I do think I can break down the league into three tiers. We have our contenders: the top four teams in our standings. Following them is the middle of the table with teams projected fifth through eighth. Finally, at the bottom of the tier, our teams are ranked ninth and tenth, who are just starting to rebuild at the THL level.

1st Place and Champions: Zagłębie Sosnowiec

Sosnowiec medaled for the first time in a while last year. With that taste of a bronze medal, it felt like the team made an all-in push for the 2027 season. The club nabbed numerous THL stars from other clubs, including Jean Dupuy from Katowice, Karolus Kaarlehto from Jastrzębie, and Alexander Peresunko & Ville Heikkinen from Oświęcim. They start the season as the clear favorites to win the 2027 THL title. 

2nd: GKS Katowice

In years past, I always had worries about Katowice’s import additions. This year I think the team killed it in the offseason. I’m really excited to see Brock Bremer (F), Connor LaCouvee (G), Emil Forslund (F), and the return of Pontus Englund (D). The biggest signing was bringing Patryk Krężołek back to Poland. The star of the national team will be one of the league’s best goal scorers. I’m interested to see the continued development of the Hofamn twins and Adam Hornik. Katowice always stays locked and loaded, and I don’t doubt they’ll make another finals appearance in 2027. 

3rd: GKS Tychy 

It’s always hard to project GKS Tychy not making the finals. As they proved last year, when after a rough start they stormed back to claim another championship. They are one of the few clubs that can really afford to make major shakeups and bring in impact players if things are not working. But going into the season, I’m really concerned about the offense. Their top two scorers depart with Hannu Kuru signing in the Liiga, while Rasmus Heljanko heads to the ICEHL. In both the pre-season and Champions Hockey League, Tychy hasn’t gotten much offense outside their top line. Defensively, they’ll be among the best again, but unless some down the lineup scoring emerges, I have them missing the finals. 

4th: Unia Oświęcim

It is a new-look Oświęcim, as the Robert Kalaber era lasted only a season. Markus Juurikkala takes over as head coach after spending the past couple of seasons in Romania. The additions of emerging Polish national team members Jakub Lewandowski and Olaf Bizacki should be huge. The return of Kalle Valtola will also give them one of the league’s best powerplay players. Of Poland’s current big four clubs, they allowed the most goals last year, and I’m not sure if they exactly addressed that in the strongest way this offseason. The floor is high, but I don’t know if the ceiling is a championship right now. 

5th: Polonia Bytom

Polonia had a solid season in their return to the THL. For 2027, they’re bringing back a lot of the core that made them so competitive last year. In the offseason, they made a couple of moves to solidify their defense with imports Artem Hrebenyk and Jakub Kubes, while also grabbing Oliwier Kurnicki from Toruń. Offensively, I have some light concerns about who will replace the production of Miro Lehtimäki and a few others. They’re taking some wings on players like Yevgen Fadyeyev, who led the Belgium league in scoring last year. In the second tier of THL teams, I have Polonia on top. 

6th: JKH GKS Jastrzębie

It was a rough offseason in Jastrzębie. With limited resources, the club dug deep last year and found some studs, leading to a Polish Cup victory. That success led to a raid this year, with only two of the club’s top six scorers returning. They also lost their superstar starting goalie Karolus Kaarlehto. They should be in the top half of the league on defense, but I have questions about their goaltending and offense. It will be up to plenty of young Poles to take major steps forward. 

7th: KH Energa Toruń

When it comes to building a roster, Toruń truly leaves no stone unturned as they once again stretched the globe to find new talent. There are 13 players in and 13 players out for Poland’s most northern club. I’m really intrigued by under-sized goalie Roman Kalmykov, who was named the 2026 Kazakhstan goalie of the year. Anton Brandhammar’s return to Poland will give them someone to take on some huge minutes. The club returned their stars up front, with Andrei Deniskin, Mikolaj Sytyi, Robert Arrak, and Ruslan Bashirov all returning. Bashirov will miss a bit of time at the start of the year due to visa issues. They are the biggest boom-or-bust team in the THL this year. 

8th: Cracovia Krakow

Cracovia comes in as the final playoff team, but I do think the club is taking another step forward this year. Last year was a trial by fire for many young players; some passed, and some failed. Now Borys Dawid, Radoslaw Kot, and Mateusz Ubowski are among the youth movement who will get a chance to make their own mark. A lot of retention of their imports should help on the chemistry side, but losing Henry Karjalainen no doubt hurts. Coming in are Daniels Bērziņš, Joni Airo, and James White. All three have some high-reward potential that could offset the loss of production from Karjalainen. On the backend, Daniels Goršānovs and Vili Laitinen should help Craocvia make strides in production from the blue line. Overall, I think they’re much better than last year, still just have to keep building depth. 

9th: Podhale Nowy Targ

We’re still learning what this team looks like. It makes them really hard to project. I’m only giving them the 9th spot right now due to the duel wins over Sanok in pre-season action. This group won a 1 Liga championship together, but how that will translate to the THL is debatable. Kacper Zajac and Oskar Polak are going to be busy in net. 

10th: STS Sokil Sanok

I like a lot of the Polish players that will be suiting up for Sanok this year. I think Liskowski and Adam Sawicki are really solid prospects. Former team Latvia goalie Erik Vitols is going to give this team a decent floor. The real test is how the Ukrainian league champs fare in Poland. In the pre-season, the Ukrainian side of the squad lost 6-0 to Torun and then 7-0 to Polonia. The whole split team thing is going to be odd, and I wonder if chemistry and stamina might suffer.

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Thumbnail Photo via polskihokej.eu