NHL: The First Contract

An unusual look at ice hockey from the Finnish freeware scene: instead of skating or coaching, you play as Don Baizley, a real-life player agent, negotiating the best possible rookie contracts for prospects heading to the NHL. The original blurb names Finnish talents Jere Karalahti and Marko Tuomainen as well as stars of the 1999 draft class, including Patrik Stefan and the Swedish twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin.

Released in 1999 as version 1.0, the game is one of the small curiosities of the Finnish home-computer and BBS scene of the 1990s, a corner of gaming history that international retro sites usually overlook. A negotiation simulator about a hockey agent is a rarity even among sports games, which makes it a neat document of an era when Finland was producing NHL hopefuls by the dozen. You can play it right in your browser on OldGame.cz.