Apple - Games - Articles - NHL Eastside Hockey Manager 2007

By Brad Cook

3-2. Just over a minute remaining in the third period. The other team commits a crucial mistake by icing the puck, placing the next face-off in their end. You respond by sending out your best line, with orders for your goalie to leave the ice for an extra attacker if your team wins the face-off. Leaving the net empty is always a risky proposition, but you need any advantage you can get at the moment: a win secures the number one seed in the playoffs.

The referee drops the puck and your center skillfully draws it back to one of your defensemen, who immediately wraps it around the boards to the left and right wingers stationed by the net. You’ve ordered your players to press hard and barrage the opposing goalie with shots, which they do as your own goalie skates off. You even took a moment to assess a chart of shot placement and decided to tell them to aim low — clearly all those high shots weren’t getting through.

Your tactics pay off with a score just 38 seconds later as your star left winger puts the puck just inside the right post. You restore your goalie but keep your best players on the ice despite their exhausted state — nobody wants to slog through overtime if they can put the game away now. Time runs out, however, and you plan your overtime strategy, deciding to keep everything the same except the players’ shooting tactics: better to have them control the puck more and set up their shots.

With just five minutes on the clock, though, overtime ends in a 3-3 tie, ending your hopes for a division title and dropping your team to fourth seed in the playoffs. You mull over your roster before the first round begins, noting that your star left winger is still unhappy, despite a lucrative contract extension offered to him earlier in the season. And with your best defenseman hurt, you’ll have to plug into your line-up a rookie summoned from your minor league affiliate a few months prior. At least the team’s board of directors is still happy with your performance. For now.

Hockey Immersion

Welcome to the world of professional hockey as portrayed in Sports Interactive’s NHL Eastside Hockey Manager 2007. This hockey management game features 20 playable leagues — including, of course, North America’s National Hockey League — from around the world, with more than 3,000 teams and over 45,000 players and personnel contained in its enormous database. You can take charge of any of those teams and lead it to victory as you make trades, sign up-and-coming players, decide game-day tactics as you watch the play-by-play unfold, negotiate new contracts with veterans, bench underachievers, and more.

Best of all, thanks to Eastside Hockey Manager’s plethora of licensing deals, you get to interact with real players and personnel while managing your favorite team. Oversee the rise of young phenom Sidney Crosby, who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins as the successor of Mario Lemieux. Decide whether aging veteran Dominic Hasek still has what it takes to play goalie for the Detroit Red Wings or if you should go with the younger Chris Osgood. Take the reins of recent expansion team the Columbus Blue Jackets and see if you can turn them into an NHL powerhouse. The choice is yours, the possibilities limited only by the schemes you can create.

Your NHL season starts before the exhibition games do, giving you an opportunity to peruse your roster and make sure your key players are signed to contracts and happy with their situations. The game follows NHL rules to the letter, which means you have to take roster freeze dates and trade deadlines into account as you juggle your line-up. With a limit of 23 players on the team and 20 who can be available for each game, it’s up to you to place injury victims on the reserve list, which doesn’t count against the 23-player maximum, and summon replacements from your minor league affiliate.

Daily news blurbs keep you abreast of everyone’s status and even let you know what’s happening with other teams around the league. Someone else’s star player could be unhappy, so you better swoop in with a sweet trade offer before another team beats you to him.

And like any other general manager does, you get to spend your off-season time securing key contracts, evaluating players you made offers to earlier in the year who are now available, and otherwise getting ready for the next campaign. As your reputation within this simulated digital world grows, you’ll eventually find a consensus opinion of your job performance. If you’re good enough, you might just join the ranks of the few general managers in the hockey Hall of Fame.

Game Hardware

Check out our systems for your best gaming experience.

Recommended Systems For Gamers

Game Media

He Shoots! He… Follow all of the action in the tactical view.

Just Another Day at the Office. Trade, waive, and sign players, manage finances, check your team’s stats, and more.

Take a Shot At It. Check out shot placement, as well as where players were when they took them, and adjust your strategy accordingly.

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System Requirements:

Mac OS X version 10.3 (10.4 recommended)
600MHz PowerPC G4 processor (1.4GHz or higher recommended)
256MB of RAM
800MB hard disk space

A Tour of the NHL

While there are 20 leagues in the game, we realize most of you are interested in the NHL. If you don’t have a favorite team, however, take a look at the following guide and see what sparks your interest. From established clubs laden with stars to struggling expansion franchises to teams with up-and-down histories, the NHL offers something for the type of challenge you have in mind. The following descriptions are based on the team rosters included with the game, which were set before the start of the current season. Therefore, our comments may not reflect current events, such as players who have been recently traded or waived. Your simulated season may turn out much differently than the real one, which, of course, is the point of playing games like this one.

Western Conference:

Anaheim Ducks: The just-happy-to-be-here expansion Ducks lost the 2003 Cup Finals to the Devils and made it to the semi-finals last year, but they could easily slide right back into their pre-Cup mediocrity if you can’t put together a supporting cast for star Teemu Selanne. Veterans Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer lead the defense.

Calgary Flames: The Flames lost an incredibly tight Cup Final to the Lightning in 2004 but were eliminated in the first round last year. Your task is to return to glory with this crew of overachievers in which no one player outshines everyone else.

Chicago Blackhawks: They lost the Cup to the Penguins in 1992 and haven’t hoisted it over their heads since 1961, with just one playoff appearance during the past five seasons. This mediocre cast is begging for an overhaul.

Colorado Avalanche: Once the Quebec Nordiques, the Avalanche scored Cup wins in 1996 and 2001. They might not have Hall of Famer Patrick Roy between the pipes anymore after his 2003 retirement, but Jose Theodore is a competent replacement. Joe Sakic leads an offense that has lost some important players during the past few years.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Even the Canadiens were young and unheralded once upon a time. Perhaps fans will look back on the Blue Jackets’ early years after their 2000 birth the same way. Or maybe not. Veteran superstar Sergei Fedorov and defenseman Adam Foote are the players you want to build around.

Dallas Stars: Nee the Minnesota North Stars, the Dallas Stars beat the Sabres for the 1999 Cup on a disputed overtime goal in the final game. While Ed Belfour may no longer be in goal for them, the Stars still have a solid line-up and have shown their prowess with playoff berths every year but two since 1994. Marty Turco is the man in goal, and Mike Modano leads the offense. Could this be the last stop for Eric Lindros, a player once heralded as the next Wayne Gretzky but whose career has been marred by injuries?

Detroit Red Wings: Future Hall of Famer Dominic Hasek leads this team from the goalie position, with Chris Osgood more than capable as his backup. Osgood would also make good trade bait, an important point for a team that’s depleted on offense. Chris Chelios leads the defense for a club that has won three Cups since 1997 and ten overall.

Edmonton Oilers: A sixth Stanley Cup win almost came their way last year, after a heartbreaking seven-game loss to the Hurricanes that ended a Cinderella playoff run. Ryan Smith leads an overachieving team ready to pull off more upsets this season.

Los Angeles Kings: A 1993 Cup loss to Montreal highlighted the Kings’ Gretzky Years, but this is a team currently in decline, with three straight seasons that ended without a trip to the playoffs. Can you build a no-name team into a powerhouse?

Minnesota Wild: This expansion team brought hockey back to Minnesota in 2000. Another rebuilding project that will require plenty of patience. Look to players like Kim Johnsson and Mikko Koivu to set the standard.

Nashville Predators: Some believe the NHL expanded too quickly in recent years, which may explain why this team appeared in 1998. With two playoff appearances that ended in the first round under their belts, perhaps you can spur them to greater things. Having Jason Arnott and Paul Kariya on the roster certainly won’t hurt.

Phoenix Coyotes: Known as the Winnipeg Jets until they moved in 1996, the Coyotes have missed the playoffs for three straight years. However, with Curtis Joseph in goal and Jeremy Roenick and Owen Nolan leading the offense, you could help this club rebound.

San Jose Sharks: They’ve been the darling of NHL Cinderella teams, pulling off some miraculous playoff upsets since their inception in 1991 but never making it to the Cup Finals. With division titles in 2002 and 2004, however, they’ve now shown they can play with the big boys. Evgeni Nabokov provides solid defense in goal while Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau lead the offense.

St. Louis Blues: “We coulda been a contender,” the Blues have lamented after some stellar recent seasons that ended in early exits from the playoffs. Without a Cup win to their names and a playoff miss last year, the Blues are ripe for a take-charge general manager who will push them to secure the ultimate prize. Keith Tkachuk leads the offense.

Vancouver Canucks: With nothing but 1994 and 1982 Cup Finals losses to their names during a 34-year history, the Canucks have a lot to prove, especially considering their playoff miss last year. Trevor Linden is the player you want to build around.

Eastern Conference:

Atlanta Thrashers: This expansion club opened for business in 1999. The early years were a struggle, but the 2005-2006 season marked the first winning one in franchise history. Scott Mellanby and Bobby Holik lead a team that could be on the verge of a breakthrough.

Boston Bruins: You’ll inherit a rich history, along with fans who demand nothing less than a playoff berth every year, when you take charge of the Bruins. Unfortunately, this is a team that missed the 2005-2006 season playoffs and is in the middle of rebuilding its roster. Defenseman Zdeno Chara and center Marc Savard are the players to watch.

Buffalo Sabres: This team went as far as the Stanley Cup finals a few years ago, but that was with Dominic Hasek between the pipes. Martin Biron provides solid skills in Hasek’s place, but he has big skates to fill. Look to center Chris Drury for the spark you’ll need on offense.

Carolina Hurricanes: Originally known as the Hartford Whalers before they moved south in 1997, the Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup Finals in 2006, defeating the Edmonton Oilers. Rod Brind’Amour and Ray Whitney lead the offense while goalie Cam Ward anchors the defense.

Florida Panthers: A young club with one failed Cup bid (a 1996 loss to the Colorado Avalanche) under their belts and a current state of mediocrity, the Panthers are a dream for any general manager who wants to build a winner. Is veteran goalie Ed Belfour the key to success or trade bait for several young, promising players?

Montreal Canadiens: Hockey’s equivalent of the New York Yankees last won the Cup in 1993 (they’ve won it 24 times total), but they’re still a team to fear. They made it to the playoffs the past two seasons, and this year they’re poised for another run, with help from Alexei Kovalev on offense and Andrei Markov on defense.

New Jersey Devils: A powerhouse club, the Devils are always in the thick of the playoff hunt and have won three Cups since 1995. Martin Brodeur is a mainstay in goal and Patrik Elias and Scott Gomez lead the offense.

New York Islanders: The Isles, as they’re known, won four straight Cups from 1980 to 1983, before the Wayne Gretzky-led Edmonton Oilers defeated them in the 1984 Finals and started their own dynasty. They’ve been a hit-or-miss club the last few years, failing to reach the playoffs last year. Can you build a winner around stars Alexei Yashin and Miroslav Satan?

New York Rangers: Their 1994 Cup win was their first since 1940, but they haven’t been back to the Finals since. After several underachieving years, they finally made the playoffs again last season but bowed out in the first round. Jaromir Jagr is the undisputed star of this team, coming off a 123-point 2005-2006 campaign.

Ottawa Senators: This expansion club has made the playoffs every year since 1997. They have yet to secure a Cup berth, but maybe you’re the GM who can make that happen. This is a young club, but they’re scrappy.

Philadelphia Flyers: They haven’t made it to the Cup Finals since an embarrassing four-games-to-none rout at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings in 1997. Despite that fact, you can’t go wrong with goalie Antero Nittymaki, and their offense offers such stars as Simon Gagne and Peter Forsberg, while Derian Hatcher anchors the defense.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Budding superstar Sidney Crosby leads a team that has missed the playoffs four straight years. With such veterans as Mark Recchi and John LeClair helping him out, this season could see the Penguins’ rebirth.

Tampa Bay Lightning: A surprise Stanley Cup winner in 2004, the Lightning don’t have a lot of recognizable names but they sport a team chemistry that still produces victories. Martin St. Louis leads the offense.

Toronto Maple Leafs: This venerable club hasn’t won the Cup since 1967 (they’ve won it 11 times total), but they were a strong contender every year until last season, when they failed to make the playoffs. Veteran center Mats Sundin leads a team hungry to fulfill its legacy.

Washington Capitals: The Caps’ Cup loss in 1998 was their only trip to the Finals in team history. Second-year sensation Alexander Ovechkin, along with veteran center Dainius Zubrus and goalie Olaf Kolzig, lead a team ready to end a two-year playoff drought.