The Växjö Lakers were founded in 1997 after the former Växjö Hockey Club went bankrupt. The club first started playing in the 1997–98 season and starting in Division 4, four divisions below today's top-tier SHL. Växjö worked their way up to HockeyAllsvenskan (2nd tier league) within six years. The club then spent eight seasons in HockeyAllsvenskan, during which they missed out on qualifying for the SHL three times. After near misses in 2009 and 2010, Växjö were finally promoted to the Swedens top league in 2011. Three years later, in 2013-14, the Lakers reached the SHL playoffs for the first time. The club originally played its home games at the Växjö Ishall, but prior to the 2011-12 season they moved to the newly built Vida Arena where they play to this day.

They have qualified for the Champions Hockey League 6 times and made it all the way to the Final in 2018, where they narrowly missed out on the title to Finnish team JYP Jyväskylä.