Load the players who dressed and sat out on that date before playing the games.
Historical hockey simulation for Windows
Replay NHL history.
Or see what happens differently.
Almanac Hockey is a hockey simulator I have been building around one main idea: if I pick a real NHL season, I want the game to feel like that season. The teams, players, schedules, rules, playoffs and roster usage should all make sense for the year being played.
108NHL seasons
1917–18through 2025–26
Windowsdesktop simulation
HISTORICAL SEASONS
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ACTUAL DAILY DRESSED ROSTERS
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REAL SCHEDULES
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GAME VIEWER
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WHAT-IF REPLAYS
The main part of the game
Pick a season and play it out.
Right now the historical database covers 108 NHL seasons, from 1917-18 through 2025-26. When you create a season, the game uses the real teams, schedule, player history, playoff format and rules that go with that year.
- Real regular-season schedules and the playoff format used that year
- Rules, roster sizes, overtime formats and lineup setups that change by era
- Player history only up to the season you are playing, so future stats are not shown
- Players who changed teams during the season can move when they actually moved
- Historical team names, logos, colors and jersey numbers where I have the data
- Players who missed an entire season can still be available for what-if replays
Actual daily dressed rosters
Use the players who actually dressed that day.
One feature I really wanted was the option to use the actual players who dressed for each game. If that option is turned on, the game can update the roster from the real box score for that date. You can still set your own lines for teams you control, while AI teams can fix their lines automatically.
Pick which teams you want to handle yourself and which ones the computer takes care of.
The historical setup is there, but you are not locked into making the exact same decisions real teams made.
What is in the game
The parts I wanted in a hockey sim.
01
Lineups & rosters
Set four forward lines, three defense pairs, starting and backup goalies, scratches, injuries and special teams.
02
Game Viewer
Watch the game play out with the players on the ice, a rink view, play-by-play, different speeds and a full box score.
03
League history
Track standings, league leaders, season results and how your replay compares with what happened in real life.
04
Fantasy & what-if
Use the real season as your starting point, or mix things up with a fantasy draft and other what-if changes.
05
Players who missed a season
Some players disappear completely from the real NHL record for a season. I did not want that to automatically remove them from a what-if replay. Mario Lemieux is a good example: he did not play in 1994-95, but Almanac Hockey can still make him available as a free agent if you want to see what might have happened.
06
Era-aware ratings
Ratings are built from the stats that actually exist for each era instead of pretending 1920s hockey had modern tracking data.
07
Your pace
Control one team, several teams or none at all. You can manage the lineups yourself or let the computer handle them.
Screenshots
What it looks like right now.
Try Almanac Hockey
Current public build
The latest public build is available from the Download page.
About the project
This is still very much a work in progress.
I have been building Almanac Hockey because I wanted a hockey sim that puts more attention on historical seasons than most games do. I am still adding things, fixing things and changing things as I go. My main goal is to make the historical side accurate enough that the season setup makes sense, while still giving you room to change history once you start playing.
Almanac Hockey
Pick a season and see where it goes.
I will keep adding screenshots, updates, downloads and other information here as the game gets further along.