With the NSL Finals starting today and the regular season fully in the rear view mirror, we at the NSL thought it would be fun to recognize some of the best individual performers of the 2026 regular season. To do that, I have taken a page out of other sports leagues’ books and selected players for hypothetical “All-NSL” teams.
I’ve created two All-NSL teams each for the men and women, each with three players to reflect a typical NSL lineup. First team contains the three best players in the league by my estimation, and the second team contains the next best three.
One more thing: these teams are based purely off the on-court performance of each player in the 2026 regular season. We aren’t interested in the hypothetical peaks of each player or lineup synergy. That would be an interesting article topic, but not what we’re covering here. With that, let’s get into it.
MEN’S FIRST TEAM
MVP: Marwan ElShorbagy, Philadelphia Lightning
81 pts | 61 min | 1.33 pts/min | 15 PP pts on 3 PP (5.0 pts/PP)
The men’s MVP discussion begins and ends with Marwan ElShorbagy. No player in the men’s division did more across two matches, and no player made more clutch plays all season.
Against Atlanta in January, ElShorbagy was serviceable: 28 points in 28 minutes, 1.0 pts/min, no power plays activated. Mohamed Abouelghar’s dominant attacking play was the story of the match. But, Elshorbagy closed out the match for the Lightning in a nailbiting finish against Miguel Rodriguez. The clutch reputation Marwan built in 2025 carried over into 2026, but his dominance during the run of play would have to wait until the second match. Against the New York Knights, ElShorbagy put up 53 points in 33 minutes (a 1.61 pts/min clip that ranked among the best individual performances of the season) and converted his three power plays at 5.0 points apiece. When Philadelphia needed a closer, he was exactly that.
What makes ElShorbagy’s season particularly impressive in the NSL context is the combination of volume and efficiency. He played 61 minutes across two matches, the most of any Lightning player, and never had a bad period. His 1.42 pts/min outside of power play situations confirms he generated points in open play at an elite rate regardless of whether the format handed him an advantage.
The Lightning won both regular season matches, and ElShorbagy was the engine of the team.
Matias Knudsen, Newport Dragons
52 pts | 48 min | 1.08 pts/min | 33 PP pts on 8 PP (4.13 pts/PP) | 3 pts allowed on 2 PP defended
If you want to understand what a truly dominant power play performer looks like in the NSL, look no further than Matias Knudsen. He activated eight power plays across the regular season and scored 33 points in those sequences. That’s 63% of his total point output coming on a format advantage, and he converted at 4.13 points per power play. But the stat that really stands out is on the other side: in two power plays defended over the course of the season, Knudsen gave up only 3 points total. He was both the league’s best power play attacker and one of its most effective power play defenders, albeit in a limited sample.
Against Greenwich, Knudsen put up 17 power play points across four sequences (the highest single-match power play output of any player in the league). In the Lake Erie match, he added 16 more on four more power plays. Over the course of the regular season, Newport’s opponents had to game-plan around Knudsen’s power play. His numbers justify that concern entirely.
The one caveat in Knudsen’s profile is his base-rate efficiency outside of power plays. His overall pts/min is 1.08, which is strong but not elite. His value is really concentrated in the power play, where he is the best player in the league. But, he was so dominant for the 2-0 Dragons as an attacker that he earns a first team spot anyway.
Karim Gawad, Chicago Grizzlies
69 pts | 60 min | 1.15 pts/min | 19 PP pts on 4 PP (4.75 pts/PP)
Chicago went from the worst team in NSL history to Central Division champions in 2026. Gawad, acquired with the first overall pick, was the reason.
The numbers tell the straightforward story: 69 points across two matches, 1.15 pts/min overall, 4.75 points per power play across four total. What makes those numbers compelling is their consistency. Gawad really hit the ground running in an NSL format which was new to him. Against Nashville, Gawad scored 34 points in 28 minutes at a 1.21 pts/min clip, generating 10 power play points on two attempts (5.0/PP). Against Louisville, he matched that with 35 points in 32 minutes and 9 power play points on two more attempts (4.5/PP). He never had a bad match. He never had a period where he was a liability.
The most revealing stat in Gawad’s profile is his 1.28 pts/min outside of power play situations — the best of any Chicago player by a significant margin. He was simply the best player on an undefeated team. He earned that designation through consistent, multi-faceted contributions to Chicago’s first-ever division win.
MEN’S SECOND TEAM
Moustafa Elsirty — Nashville Crushers
74 pts | 57.75 min | 1.28 pts/min | 11 PP pts on 4 PP | 5 pts allowed on 1 PP defended
Moustafa Elsirty’s inclusion on the second team is simultaneously straightforward and bittersweet. Straightforward because his numbers are the best of any player on a team that didn’t make the playoffs. Bittersweet because…well…his team missed the playoffs.
74 points in 58 minutes, 1.28 pts/min. That’s the kind of per-minute rate that would have been the clear No. 1 on most teams in the league. His first match against Louisville was exceptional: 41 points in under 30 minutes, 1.38 pts/min, and 10 power play points on three power plays. The Period 3 performance alone — 30 points in 20 minutes, 1.5 pts/min — was the best individual period by any men’s player all season.
The Chicago match showed Elsirty’s durability: 33 points in 28 minutes against a Chicago lineup that went on to win the Central. He scored efficiently, he defended competently, and he gave Nashville their best chance in both matches. His 1.33 pts/min outside of power play situations is elite. The Nashville Crushers had the best individual player on their roster and still couldn’t make the playoffs, a testament to how much the NSL team format magnifies the importance of depth. Nashville missed the playoffs, but ElSirty did everything you could possibly want.
Mostafa Asal — Greenwich Panthers
66 pts | 62 min | 1.06 pts/min | 18 PP pts on 5 PP (3.6 pts/PP)
Asal’s regular season numbers are more complicated to assess than any other player on this list.
In the opening match against Newport, Asal produced only 19 points in 26 minutes at a 0.73 pts/min rate, and it came in a match where Greenwich lost comfortably. By contrast, his second match against Lake Erie: 49 points in 36 minutes, 1.36 pts/min, 11 power play points on three activations, was the single highest individual point total of any men’s player all regular season.
The explanation for that gap is largely contextual: Newport had Yahya Elnawasany, arguably the best defender in the league, waiting specifically to neutralize Asal. Lake Erie put out their depth lineup, which lacked the defensive infrastructure to contain the world’s best player for an extended stretch. Asal’s numbers reflect the quality of what he faced, which is true of every player.
Across the season, Asal’s 1.18 pts/min outside of power plays suggests a player who was effective without power plays. His power play numbers themselves are good without being elite. He makes the second team on the basis of his peak performance, which was quietly worthy of first team consideration. Asal’s ceiling, as he demonstrated against Lake Erie, is as high as any player’s in the league.
Eain Yow Ng — New York Knights
72 pts | 56 min | 1.29 pts/min | 9 PP pts on 3 PP (3.0 pts/PP) | 6 pts allowed on 1 PP defended
Eain Yow Ng’s case for the second team is built on two things: consistent scoring in open play across both matches, and a defensive presence that was legitimately difficult to score against.
Against Atlanta, Ng scored 28 points in 26 minutes at a 1.08 pts/min clip. Against Philadelphia, he elevated dramatically: 44 points in 30 minutes at 1.47 pts/min, with 8 power play points on two power plays. For a player on a team that went 0-2, Ng was consistently the brightest performer.
His 1.33 pts/min outside of power play situations is a genuine mark of quality, better than Asal’s base rate, better than Elsirty’s, and in the same range as ElShorbagy’s. The knock on Ng’s season? He was the best player on a team that couldn’t translate individual quality into results. But the numbers are the numbers, and Ng’s numbers are too good to leave off the All-NSL list.
WOMEN’S FIRST TEAM
MVP: Fayrouz Aboelkheir, New York Queens
111 pts | 57 min | 1.95 pts/min | 5 PP pts on 1 PP (5.0 pts/PP)
The women’s MVP conversation doesn’t require much deliberation. Fayrouz Aboelkheir scored 111 points in 57 minutes across the regular season, a clip that places her in a separate category from almost everyone else in the league.
Against the DC Inferno in January, Aboelkheir put up 67 points in 30 minutes at 2.23 pts/min. That is an extraordinary output, averaging two points per minute for the entirety of a single match. Against the Philadelphia Freedom in March, she was slightly less dominant at the per-minute level, 44 points in 27 minutes, 1.63 pts/min, but the volume was still exceptional. She played only two periods of the Freedom match (Period 1 and Period 3, but not Period 2), meaning she scored 44 points in fewer than a full match’s worth of minutes.
The one area where Aboelkheir’s numbers show a slight vulnerability is power play defense — she conceded 6.0 points per power play defended, the highest rate of any Women’s First Team selection. That’s a meaningful data point. But no women’s player scored at anything close to Aboelkheir’s rate. She is the clear first selection on the Women’s First Team.
Salma Hany, SoNo Sharks
97 pts | 57 min | 1.70 pts/min | 9 PP pts on 2 PP (4.5 pts/PP) | 17 pts allowed on 4 PP (4.25/PP)
Salma Hany is the backbone of an undefeated SoNo Sharks team. Her profile has everything you could want: 97 points, 57 minutes, 1.70 pts/min, with the ability to score on power plays and limit damage when defending them.
Her first match, against the Seattle Freeze in February, was a career performance: 57 points in 29 minutes, 1.97 pts/min, and 9 power play points on two power plays. She was the Sharks’ most efficient player in a match SoNo won in a landslide. She occupied more of a supporting role against Lake Erie, where she put up 40 points in 28 minutes, with no power plays. Marina Stefanoni and Torrie Malik took on larger shares of the scoring burden.
What distinguishes Hany is her adaptability. She’s capable of being the focal point of a lineup in one match and an effective secondary scorer in the next. In an NSL format that rewards versatility, she demonstrated it repeatedly.
Melissa Alves, Philadelphia Freedom
91 pts | 59.5 min | 1.53 pts/min | 13 PP pts on 3 PP (4.33 pts/PP)
Melissa Alves is the most interesting selection on the Women’s First Team, and the one that requires the most explanation — because she played for the team that finished last in the Women’s South with a -49 point differential.
Here’s the argument: Alves played 59.5 minutes across the regular season, more than any other women’s player except Salma Hany, and scored 91 points. Her power play efficiency (4.33 pts/PP) is genuinely strong. And in the DC Inferno match, a 4-0 loss for Philadelphia, she put up 62 points in 37.5 minutes to essentially keep the Freedom from being completely overrun.
In the Inferno match, Alves was far and away the best player on the court. Her 34-point Period 3 against DC (1.55 pts/min, 5 power play points) in a period her team ultimately lost demonstrated the kind of individual quality that transcends team results.
The case against Alves is real: her power play defense was porous (5.75 pts allowed per PP defended), and her team went 1-1 with an ugly differential. The case for her is that her individual numbers, compiled over the most minutes of any first team selection outside of Hany, are simply too good to ignore. Alves didn’t perform at her best against the Queens in March, but she was always available for her team and had demonstrated MVP quality against DC. That gets her the last first team nod.
WOMEN’S SECOND TEAM
Tinne Gilis, Seattle Freeze
73 pts | 39 min | 1.87 pts/min | 4 pts allowed on 2 PP defended (2.0/PP)
The asterisk on Tinne Gilis’s selection is unavoidable: she played only one regular season match. That one match was exceptional enough to demand recognition, and even made me think about a first team spot for Gilis. 73 points in 39 minutes, 1.87 pts/min is the highest single-match point total of any women’s player all season. She also defended two power plays and conceded only 4 points, the best defensive rate of anyone on the Women’s Second Team.
Critics might say she did this against Lake Erie in a one-sided 4-0 win. The counterargument to the counterargument is that Lake Erie’s 1.35 pts/min as a team for the season was respectable, and Gilis’s 1.87 pts/min against them was genuinely dominant. She had the highest per-minute rate of any player with at least 20 minutes played in the women’s regular season. With one match’s worth of data, the sample size concern is legitimate. With numbers this good, it’s not disqualifying.
Nardine Garas, New York Queens
54 pts | 28 min | 1.93 pts/min | 24 PP pts on 4 PP (6.0 pts/PP)
Nardine Garas played one match against the Freedom, and in 28 minutes, she posted the most dominant power play performance of the women’s regular season. 24 power play points on four power plays at 6.0 points per power play. For context: that’s 44% of her total point output coming from power play sequences, at an efficiency rate that no other women’s player matched.
Her 1.93 pts/min overall rate is the second-highest of any women’s player on either all-league team, essentially matching Aboelkheir’s season average. Her power play defensive numbers (7 points conceded on 2 PP defended, 3.5/PP) are solid. The Freedom simply did not have answers for her in a Queens lineup that already featured Aboelkheir.
The one-match limitation is real, and it’s the reason Garas is on the second team rather than the first. But her per-minute and per-power-play efficiency numbers are the kind that, if replicated over a full season, would make her a first-team lock.
Olivia Weaver, Philadelphia Freedom
66 pts | 33 min | 2.00 pts/min | 4 PP pts on 1 PP (4.0/PP) | 3 pts allowed on 1 PP defended
Olivia Weaver is the final selection, and she’s here on the strength of one extraordinary number: 2.00 pts/min. That is the highest per-minute scoring rate of any women’s player with at least 20 minutes played — better than Aboelkheir’s 1.95, better than Gilis’s 1.87, better than Garas’s 1.93.
Against the Queens, Weaver scored 66 points in 33 minutes. In Period 1, she put up 16 points in 8 minutes at 2.0/min. In Period 2, she put up 21 points in 7 minutes at 3.0/min, the single highest per-minute period performance in the women’s regular season. In Period 3, 29 points in 18 minutes at 1.61/min, adding 4 power play points and conceding only 3 on a power play defended. She was the only Freedom player who looked truly comfortable against the Queens.
Like Gilis and Garas, the one-match sample is a real limitation. Unlike most one-match players, Weaver’s numbers came against the best team in the Women’s South, a Queens lineup that featured Aboelkheir and Garas and went on to finish first in the division. Scoring 66 points at a 2.0/min clip against that competition is not an accident. Weaver belongs here.
Final Teams:
Men’s First Team: Marwan ElShorbagy (PHI), Matias Knudsen (NEW), Karim Gawad (CHI)
Men’s Second Team: Moustafa Elsirty (NASH), Mostafa Asal (GRE), Eain Yow Ng (NYK)
Women’s First Team: Fayrouz Aboelkheir (NYQ), Salma Hany (SONO), Melissa Alves (PHI)
Women’s Second Team: Tinne Gilis (SEA), Nardine Garas (NYQ), Olivia Weaver (PHI)
