Penguins' Stefan Noesen eager to make good on chance
Stefan Noesen was unemployed this summer.
And there isn’t a surplus of listings for his chosen vocation on LinkedIn or Indeed.
That left Noesen to adopt an old-fashioned approach in finding his next gig.
He picked up the phone.
After the New Jersey Devils opted not tender him a qualifying offer as a restricted free agent this past offseason, Noesen became an unrestricted free agent and went most of the summer without a contract.
So he and his agent he called just about every contact they could think of in the hockey world.
“Up until New Jersey said they weren’t going to re-sign me, we weren’t really sure what was going on,” Noesen said. “Once we found that, it was kind of, ‘We’ll call this team, wait for this team.’ Made quite a few phone calls. Come the last few weeks of summer, we were sitting there trying to figure where we’re going to go. So I took the initiative on myself to try to make something happen.”
Part of that initiative simply was going home. The Plano, Texas native visited his loved ones and found some ice time with a few of the Dallas Stars during informal workouts late in the summer. That eventually led to a tryout with the Stars in September.
“I went down to Dallas to go hang out with my family,” Noesen said. “I’m very familiar with (the Stars) organization. I’ve trained with them for quite some time. They must have been watching practice and asked if I wanted to come back at least for camp. Who wouldn’t want to get a chance to go play for their hometown? Did that, then got released.”
After failing to stick there, Noesen had one more contact he could try.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins coach Mike Vellucci, who joined the Penguins in late June, coached Noesen in the junior ranks with the Plymouth Whalers of the OHL.
“I made a few phone calls to Mike myself,” Noesen said. “And he was doing his part on his end. Now, I’m here.”
“Here” would be Cranberry, where Noesen found himself practicing Tuesday with the NHL Penguins in fairly prominent roles a day after he signed a one-year two-way contract worth a prorated $700,000.
Noesen earned that NHL deal after joining the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on an AHL deal he signed Oct. 4. In barely two months, Noesen became the AHL Penguins’ most potent offensive weapon with a team-leading 22 points (14 goals, eight assists) in 22 games.
(Video courtesy Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins)
That apprenticeship with the AHL Penguins rejuvenated Noesen’s game.
“I was just playing hockey, honestly,” Noesen said. “The whole goal was to get back in the NHL. We thought we had a chance to do it this summer. Obviously, that wasn’t the case. Never really been in a situation like this. It’s fun. I enjoyed it. It was kind of like being a kid again. You get to actually have fun playing hockey. The mental grind of it, it was kind of a relief being down there. Get to play your game and find some confidence. And now, here we are.”
Said forward Sam Lafferty, who opened the season in the AHL: “He just really impressed me with the poise he has with the puck and how smart he is. He’s got a nose for the net. The puck seems to find him, and he’s great at finishing. He scored some really nice goals when I was there. … He goes to the net, and he’s got a lot of skill.”
That success led to his contract Monday, and Tuesday he found himself skating on the team’s second line as well as working on the top power-play unit, albeit because of injuries to the team’s incumbent forwards.
“We need guys to step up and fill some important roles for us, whether it be roster players playing more significant roles or a guy like (Noesen) coming in and helping us in a different capacity,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “I don’t think at this point, we’re looking to ease anybody in. We’re trying to put him in positions where he can play to his strengths.”
Noesen has strength, quite literally. The vast majority of his limited success has come near the blue paint.
“It creates space for guys,” said Jared McCann, who centered Noesen on Tuesday. “I’m not the biggest guy in the world, so I’m not going to lay anybody out or anything like that. But when you have that kind of size (in a linemate), it’s kind of easier to win puck battles and stuff like that in the corners.”
Noesen goes so far as to suggest his style mirrors the team’s most prominent net-front presence.
“I wouldn’t say I model my game after (forward Patric) Hornqvist a little bit, but we kind of play the same style,” Noesen said. “We’re both agitators on the ice. We play hard, and the way he battles in front of the net, I try to do the same thing. I’ve been like that since juniors, and that was how I had my success. So I kind of went back to that.”
Noesen would like to go back to the success that made him a first-round pick (No. 21 overall) of the Ottawa Senators in 2011. Injuries largely have derailed a career that still offers potential for the 26-year old.
“The start of my professional career, I played two games my first year, (one game) my second year before I got hurt both times,” Noesen said. “One was six months, one was four months. After that, it was kind of smooth sailing for a while. Had a reoccurring issue with (a) knee. It still lingers here and there. We do our best to maintain it and take care of it in the offseason.”
In parts of six seasons, Noesen has played in 159 games with the Anaheim Ducks and Devils and has scored 45 points (24 goals, 21 assists). His finest season at the NHL level came in 2017-18 with New Jersey when he set career highs in games (72), goals (13), assists (14) and points (27) while playing on a checking line with Blake Coleman and Travis Zajac. But injuries hampered him last season and led to his departure from New Jersey.
After a summer and autumn full of uncertainly (and a lengthy phone bill), he’s eager to prove he’s still an NHL talent.
“For me, it’s just going out there and playing hockey, Noesen said. “Whatever happens, happens. They said they were going to try to play me to my strengths. That seems that’s the case. We’ll see what we do in games.”
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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