Little Kitty, Big City
Little Kitty, Big City
Game
Game2015
Eastside Hockey Manager
Developer Sports Interactive
Eastside Hockey Manager (often abbreviated as EHM) is an ice hockey management simulation game, and is the latest edition of the Eastside Hockey Manager series. It is developed by SI Games and published by Sega. A beta version was released through Steam Early Access on 26 March 2015. The game left Early Access on 1 December 2015. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
174 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Oct 4, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
86
LovedLoved
145 positive · 23 negative
95% range 80–91%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 145 | 23 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
6 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
1,189 of 1,388 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 174 · most liked firstIt's like crack.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →my wife left me and took the children
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →EHM is love, EHM is life
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you've always enjoyed franchise mode in NHL and wanted to dip a little deeper into it, this is the answer. For me FHM could never quite scratch the itch the way EHM does. Someone asked why I have so much playtime and no review, so here my 2 cents after 2k hours. The UI is a little daunting early on but it's a similar learning curve to a complex 4X strategy game, once you put in a bit of time navigating becomes easy. Very good granularity on the level of control you have (can choose whether…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Its a shame that SI just have abandoned this gem! My biggest wish is that SI come back to this game and make a reboot or a new version of it. Hire the The Blue Lines-dude! 4/5 Would be a 5/5 if SI had a plan for it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Now, this is a game that no longer gets updates from SI. Hasn't in a long long time. But, the game is kept alive by the community. Roster updates, logos, facepacks and more all from the workshop. A great community driven game. This, despite being 10 years old, is way better than Franchise Hockey Manager. Only downside is that 2560x1440 displays are not supported, it will play in a window, you cannot fullscreen this game. But, it is still completely playable and fine.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Still the best hockey management simulator around... wish could get a "proper" update for it at some point soon but the guys at TBL etc do an amazing job with rosters. Give me a USHL draft and College recruitment as they are in real life and it would still be perfect.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is the greatest sports sim game of all time. But if you want to play actual hockey, you're not gonna like it. Purely sim. But it is the best at what it does. Glad the community has continued to support it. I basically bought a laptop just so I could play this game on the couch.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The best hockey manager of all time, fhm sucks
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →way better then fhm even though its older. use workshop.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Been playing this game for years and it never gets old as long as the roster updates continue being made.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☐ Beautiful ☐ Good ☑ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☐ Very good ☑ Good ☐ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{ Audio }--- ☐ Eargasm ☐ Very good ☐ Good ☑ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{ Audience }--- ☐ Kids ☑ Teens ☑ Adults ☐ Grandma ---{ PC Requirements }--- ☐ Check if you can run paint ☑ Potato ☐ Decent ☐ Fast ☐ Rich boi ☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer ---{…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very good, that's all.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Constantly updated by a great mod community, this game put you in control of a professional hockey franchise with many leagues to choose from. Unlike some simulators ESHM seems to have a lot of in-game influence from the user. You can play conservatively or aggressively and get realistic outcomes, shuffle lines poorly or effectively, and pull your goalie all while watching a simplified play by play overview. You can adjust breakouts, dump-ins, formations and faceoff takers as well with instant…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →SI ? PLS, make a EHM with 3d engine and a modern version of this game :) 12/10 game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Between this account and a few others I've had since 2008(ish) I have logged almost 7000 hours into EHM. It is easily a top 3 game all-time for me. I have tried FHM and it just doesn't compare.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Has this absolutely game breaking bug that won't allow you to start your 2nd season. Ive tried every single tip and advice to get through it and it doesnt work. massive shame because its a great hockey sim. best on the market (for a single season)
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great to have run in the background while working...
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →really fun game if you like hockey and managing . the community also very great to keep it up to date to make it even better
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I once spent 40 hours simming through a single season in a game called Eastside Hockey Manager as the Hurricanes. Ended up missing the playoffs, but had my eye on a goalie in the draft. The Blackhawks took him with the pick before mine. I deleted the save right then and there.
unlabelledView post →Having put a few hours in, I think I like this game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's okay I guess.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun game, still well-loved and supported by a good community.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It is the Dark Souls of Sports Sims.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've played this game for 2,284 hours (I know some of it was being afk so that probably adds up to a couple of those hours) but I figured I finally made up my mind about this game. I truly love Eastside Hockey Manager. Now I could list all the things I wish were better, fixed, or added, but all-in-all this is exactly what I want from a "GM Mode" game. The roster mods and additional programs like EHMAssistant and EHM Editor have kept this game fresh from year to year and keeps me coming back.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →uh so. I can't really recommend or unrecommend the game, but since I'm not really going to ever play it again and didn't have fun I'm not going to recommend it. Honestly it's more embarassing than anything else, I don't know anything about hockey, but I thought that this would be about managing a hockey team and then there would be an actual hockey game you could play yourself and it would be like a stats based party rpg that you set up in order to play a hockey game. But it's not that, and I…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →#9 - Eastside Hockey Manager I've invested a stupid amount of hours in this game over the years. 'Nuff said.
unlabelledView post →Best hockey management game out there as far as mechanics go. UI takes some getting used to, and FHM's is better. I have both games - despite the NHL branding and better UI, I keep coming back to EHM. Mod community keeping it alive.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →(edit adding: Note half the comments here are bot-like profiles with weird times and only a few games on them.) game dont load half the resources ie faces as seen in screenshots all faces are blank ghosts. feels incomplete. can try loading (often outdated non-working) mods or making own faces. All this experimentation takes up your playtime past refund time.. no play tutorials - only popups giving general overview of interface eg. 'sort people using this filter'.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Love menus the game! worth 20 bucks. my fav part is the processing please wait. Me like seeing numbers and menus very pleased with game For real though for what it is and what its intended to do this game and series is good. Been a hockey fan my whole life and while i prefer GM and season modes in the EA sports games over this because if i want i could actually see hockey gameplay, this does fill the void during a time in my life where i cant really play console games. Alot of work…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An insanely in depth hockey simulation that lets you manage everything from ticket sales to individual team members emotional stats. I barely got a grasp of this game after 4 hours. I would heartily recommend this to anyone who wants fantasy hockey spreadsheets brought to life.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →THIS GAME IS UNPLAYABLE! I come back to this game every now and then and always encounter the same kind of errors, the game always crashes at a certain set date during every playthrough and therefore the game is unplayable! The game is dead and will never be fixed. Just don't play this game. It's unfortunate that there aren't any good hockeysim alternatives made by a dedicated team of developers with their primary focus on THAT game because the FHM series doesn't cut it. The only solution is a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Awesome game, especially for the price.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great to become addicted to hockey game.. :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Amazing Hockey Manager! Please bring Championship Manager 01/02 to Steam - it is still the best Manager of all time! Thank you!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Never played ice hockey and so found some tutorials and had a go. Really glad I did. The waivers are wild, the trades are tricky and the contracts are crazy. Your fans will hate you and your board will be very displeased but as long as you keep winning and making money, who gives a puck. The draft is over rated as there are loads of ways of getting new players onto your team. LOTS OF FUN !!!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is just so much fun. Extremely deep and just amazingly addictive.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's my fault for not reseathing this game more. I was not expecting a hockey game with only fake players that requires me to download actual player rosters from a different site and manually load them into the game. At the very least, NHL rosters for current seasons should be in the game already.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Eastside Hockey Manager. I have close to 1000 hours in that game.
unlabelledView post →I'm not sure. I don't like it but I generally don't like sport games, perhaps for manager fans it does have some positive aspects. Nonetheless, I can't imagine there aren't much better similar games.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →2. Most Hours in a game is most likely World of Warcraft if we're counting MMOs otherwise it's either Extreme Warfare Revenge (EWR) or NHL Eastside Hockey Manager
unlabelledView post →hockey is cool.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game. Especially when you consider Riz did it pretty much all on his own as a side project. If you like Football Manager and are looking for a Hockey equivalent then look no further. Well worth £15.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Using this in combination with The Blue Lines roster mod is just awesome. Every league (including the NHL) is included opening up hours of fun (638 hours at writing lol) running a hockey club of any level that you want. Don't let the fact that this game is years old deceive you either. It's been updated a few times and currently is running a public beta to get the most recent changes. A+
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →too much hockey not enough
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My favorite Hockey Sim. Wish they would make a more up to date one but this one still does its job.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game was pretty good, but they're just failed to try to maintain it. There's a huge world of possibilities they could have gone down, but just gave up. It's annoyingly at the point now where if I try to play the game but then change windows it won't let me go back into the game. I try to use task manager to close it, but task manager sits behind the game, so I have to literally turn my PC off with the power button. I hope they revisit this when they want to put more effort in - the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game crashes and because there is no auto save in the game, your hard work and money down the toilet.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The sim engine from 2006 is light years ahead of any EA NHL game. Workshop content allows to play with updated icons and rosters. Rosters include almost every hockey player in the world, and most of the coaches etc. Very in depth statistics, attributes, and tactical management with the possibility to delegate these calls to your the coach. Possibility to train players however you'd want, and to turn for ex. a d-man into a forward. Trading system is a little bit weird sometimes, but very in…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game, especially with all the historical years. It's a nice way to have teenage years for players before porting over to EA NHL, to have a longer narrative.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is a total waste of time and an absolute joke. On the surface, it looks like a deep hockey sim, but in reality, you are just clicking back and forth between clumsy spreadsheets with zero optimization. You have to download community mods just to get updated team roasters and portraits. The real deal-breaker is the completely broken simulation logic. You can spend hours rebuilding a bankrupt, bottom-tier team, dragging them into an unexpected playoff spot against all odds, only to…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The best hockey sim ever. Very in depth and allows so much customization.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Bad game, really bad game. Imports are difficult and full of bugs. Visually damaging for the brain too...
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you like hockey, and you like management, this is still the best one out there.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I haven't played for years, but to this day I hold EHM as the gold standard of hockey sims. It's taken FHM 11 iteration just to get near it. I hope one day there is a worthy true succesor
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →its an okay game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This isn’t just a game — it’s an experience Hours played: 1277 (and I’m still standing in the main menu listening to the music) I don’t even know where to begin. It’s rare that something hits every single note — story, music, gameplay, visuals, writing — and does it so perfectly that you forget you’re staring at pixels. This game didn’t just entertain me; it ruined other games for me. The story starts small. Just you, a broken world, and a reason to keep going — and before you know it,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Actually 40-50 hours but very fun
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Eastside Hockey Manager, developed by Sports Interactive and available on Steam, is a deep and comprehensive simulation game that puts players in full control of managing a professional ice hockey team. For fans of the sport who relish the behind-the-scenes decision-making—from roster building and scouting to financial management and tactical planning—this title offers an unmatched level of depth. Though it lacks the glossy presentation and mass-market appeal of mainstream sports titles, it…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My favourite Hockey simulation game. Lots of detail.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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