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Best Hockey Games on Steam (2026 Updated)

Steam's hockey selection has evolved beyond waiting for EA to port their console NHL games. The platform now hosts indie roguelites, deep management sims, retro arcade throwbacks, and competitive multiplayer titles that offer experiences you can't get on consoles. Here's what actually works on PC in 2026.

January 24, 2026

Tape to Tape

Tape to Tape is a roguelite hockey campaign with on-ice play, player synergies, bribe-the-ref choices and meta progression across tournament runs. Each playthrough has you building a team, managing relationships, and making strategic choices between games that affect your championship run, blending hockey action with roguelike decision-making.

Slapshot: Rebound

Slapshot: Rebound is free-to-play, physics-heavy 3v3 online hockey with high-skill mouse controls. The learning curve is steep because you're controlling skating, stick handling, passing, and shooting independently, but that depth creates a competitive scene comparable to Rocket League's mechanical skill ceiling.

Want a hockey game you can play in under two minutes? Try Gridzy Hockey, a daily NHL grid game where every pick counts.

Franchise Hockey Manager

Franchise Hockey Manager is a deep text-based hockey GM sim with real leagues, historical seasons and huge franchise depth comparable to Football Manager. You're not playing games yourself but managing drafts, trades, contracts, tactics, and scouting across decades of simulated seasons.

Super Blood Hockey

Super Blood Hockey is retro-style, ultra-violent arcade hockey with franchise and challenge modes. The pixel art aesthetic hides surprisingly solid hockey mechanics, and the violence is over-the-top enough to be funny rather than disturbing, making it a great couch multiplayer option.

Bush Hockey League

Bush Hockey League captures 1970s minor-league vibes with gritty presentation and semi-sim gameplay. The story mode follows a scrappy team through a brutal season, and the on-ice action balances arcade accessibility with enough sim elements to feel like real hockey.

NHL 2K via Emulation/Steam Deck

While not a native Steam title, NHL 2K games (especially 2K10 and 2K11) run well on Steam Deck through emulation. The 2K series offered more simulation-focused gameplay than EA's NHL, and the older entries still hold up for franchise mode grinding on portable PC hardware.

If you like quick browser games with real sports knowledge baked in, Gridzy is your new morning ritual: a fresh NHL grid drops daily at 6:00am ET.

ZenGM Hockey (via Browser on Steam Deck)

ZenGM Hockey is a lightweight management sim easily run through the Deck browser. The interface is minimal but the simulation depth is real, modeling player development, aging curves, and cap management across multi-decade franchises without requiring downloads or accounts.

Hockey Manager-Style Browser Games (via Steam Overlay)

Browser-based hockey managers from sites like OnlineSportManagers can be accessed through Steam's overlay browser. These games offer persistent online leagues, multiplayer competition, and long-term franchise building that complements Steam's downloadable hockey offerings.

Arcade Hockey Bundles / Collections

Steam's curated "Hockey" tag surfaces smaller indie hockey titles that might not get mainstream attention. These range from air hockey variants to physics toys to experimental takes on the sport, and browsing the tag occasionally uncovers hidden gems.

VR Hockey Trainers (Where Available)

A few hockey-themed VR experiences exist on Steam for shooting and goalie drills. While not full games, they offer unique training modes and skill challenges that use VR's spatial awareness for stick handling and shot placement practice.

You've played arcade hockey. Now test your hockey brain. Gridzy gives you 9 guesses to solve a daily NHL grid, and it gets addictive fast.

Why Steam Works for Hockey Games

Steam's open platform lets indie developers experiment with hockey mechanics that EA would never try. Roguelite campaigns, physics-heavy multiplayer, ultra-violent arcade action, and text-based management sims all find audiences on PC that console platforms wouldn't support.

The EA NHL Gap on PC

EA hasn't released a proper NHL game on PC since NHL 09, leaving a massive gap in the market. That absence created space for indie developers to build hockey games targeting PC players who want something different from console offerings.

Hockey Games for Steam Deck

The Steam Deck has become the ideal portable hockey platform. Franchise Hockey Manager runs perfectly for long flights, Slapshot: Rebound works surprisingly well with controller input, and browser-based games like ZenGM and Gridzy load instantly through the Deck's browser.

Play Gridzy Hockey Free Every Day

Gridzy Hockey is Shurzy's daily NHL grid game where you pretend you're "just messing around" and then suddenly you're 15 minutes deep arguing with yourself about whether some 2009 fourth-liner qualifies as a 40-goal guy.

You get nine guesses to fill a 3×3 grid, you can't reuse players, and every pick is either a genius flex or instant regret. So yeah, it's basically hockey trivia with stakes.

New grid drops every day at 6:00am ET, which is perfect because nothing says "healthy morning routine" like panicking over who won the Lady Byng in 1998. If you think you know puck, prove it.

Go play Gridzy right now!

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