Who's Hot and Who's Not - Summer Cup 3, Group Stage Edition - Summer Cup

Hi there NHLGamers,

Welcome to another edition of "Who's Hot and Who's Not". A format first introduced during the very first ECL Summer Cup, the "Hot or Not"-column was a source of much emotion and debate during its first tour of duty... so naturally it’s been making a comeback every now and then! For this Summer Cup, we'll be trying to update you on the hot players and the not players as often as possible. We'll be reviewing the performance of players and building on our previous knowledge. The first week edition took off by highlighting some early performances, but this week I won't be all alone as I've been joined by an anonymous advisor with some input on the decisions. Without further ado - let’s get to it:

fire_1f525.png.0d82f0628fe415e566775b58b5b6c230.png Who's Hot

Forward - @Vilupoika

The left winger of NG HANAA is as hot as they come this Summer Cup. The prolific scorer managed to string together a solid set of performances, totalling 62 points in 18 games, going pointless in only one group stage game. On top of putting together an amazing point total, Vilupoika clinched the top goal scorer title of the group stage with 37 goals - 9 goals more than @Joukki in second place.

Runner-up - @tbnantti

Tbnantti is our pick for the runner-up forward in the group stage of the Summer Cup. This guy won the internal scoring in his team by over 10 points (18GP, 24+22=46). Centering the offense of NG Blue Circle, this experienced trooper is flanked by less experienced up-and-comers in @lycki10 and @Vire30, a factor that weighed in on our decision. Antti has done a terrific job of backing up his linemates and taking on a leading role in the offense of his team.

Defenseman - @vatalisti

Vatalisti absolutely dominated in the defense of NG Club Kannunkulma although he played only 10 games in his original position. Vata also covered for the absence of star centerman @Eki in six games, showing his versatility as an absolute stud of a player. In defense, vatalisti finished second in total points in the group stage (10GP, 5+19=24), second only to @Ilmari_30 who played a full 18 games as a defenseman.

Runner-up - @FakiiR1

This experienced defenseman showcased the perfect example of an all-round defenseman. Fakiiri played the full 18 games, finishing third in total points for defensemen (18GP, 3+17=20) but simultaneously showing great defensive statistics. The defenseman of NG HANAA holds the best TA/GA ratio of all defensemen with 77/90, he also racked up a nice hit total of 73 and a +/- of 33.

Goalie - @JanneK. (JANURI98)

Januri was the Runner-up in the first week with an amazing record of 9-0-1 in the first week. He didn't slow down at all for the rest of the group stage, as he played all games for his team with a record of 16-0-2 and less than one goal per game conceded. His stats are really second to none, as Januri holds the number one spot in both save percentage (88.66%) and shutouts (7). NG KELAMIEHET is looking as a really strong championship candidate if Januri keeps up his stellar play and the defense in front of him holds up.

Runner-up - @kasper.kampe (taiguri9)

Some might see this as a "homer" call as taiguri is one of our own boys in Almost Famous, but in this pick we regarded the stats of the player in the group stage along with the current "status" of the player. Taiguri isn't too well known around the community, as he hasn't held a number one goalie spot in any team above the Lite level. Despite being a rather unknown talent, taiguri played a total of 14 games (11-3-0) finishing 3rd in save percentage for goalies with over eight games played.

snowflake_2744.png.2dffbd80383fb4ab2ead99c5012c598d.png Who's Not

Forward - @Buantso (Puantso)

Being a first round pick surely sets expectations high - let alone being a player of the caliber Puantso is. The ECL 5 champion, ECL 4 top goal scorer and two time ECL most assists winner was drafted at #8 overall by NG Colorado69. Puantso played eight games with a very disappointing stat sheet, showing 3+9=12 and a not so flattering -15. There's been some word about captain @kriketski17 having to do his all to manage his team, and it is sad to see such an anticlimactic outcome for them in this Summer Cup.

Defenseman - @Eric Daze (kinnune)

The "Not" defenseman of the group stage is an NG Disaster player, as we've chosen kinnune for the questionable title. Through 16 games in total, the left defenseman has gone -26, which is one of the biggest reasons of him being listed this week. Kinnune isn't a flashy defenseman, but generally gets the job done. His point total 0+7=7 and a decent 2,9 takeaways per game are ok stats for a stay-at-home defenseman, but this Summer Cup something obviously went very wrong, as the Rusty Blades defenseman is surely capable of doing much better.

Goalie - @Mehiiss

Mehiiss is the captain of NG Spring, he is known as a generally good goaltender and one of the upcoming goaltending talents in the ECL. However, the Summer Cup hasn't gone anywhere near as expected for the young goalie. Mehiiss played 10 games (4-6-0), in which his save percentage was as low as 68.36%. This selection was made based on the expectations once again being way higher than the outcome for the player in this tournament.

Due to work life obstacles, we decided to skip over our week two and head right for a group stage recap. I'm thankful for the help I received on this one, getting some knowledgeable insight and opinions. If you'd like to join in on our writing team, don't hesitate to contact me (@jahajaha93) or any other staff member and we'll see what we can set up for you.

For the ones mentioned in our Hot listing - keep up the good work and you might see yourself there again next week! For the ones on the Not list - don't let this push you down, take it with a grain of salt and keep chipping away at it. The only way to improve is by going on and practicing. We're happy to see that we don't have any recurring performances on the Not list!