New Jersey Devils: Stefan Noesen Point Prediction For 2018-19 Season
By Nick Villano
Over the next few weeks, Pucks and Pitchforks will release their points predictions for every starting player on the New Jersey Devils main roster. Today, we predict what Stefan Noesen will do under a one-year deal.
The New Jersey Devils were driven to a playoff berth last season mostly by attitude. Yes, they had an MVP season out of Taylor Hall and a surprise rookie campaign from Nico Hischier, but their attitude drove them to victory on most nights. Some of that attitude came from the line of Travis Zajac, Blake Coleman and Stefan Noesen.
Noesen is an interesting story in the hockey realm. A former first-round pick, the Anaheim Ducks basically gave up on him when they placed him on waivers in January 2017. The Devils were quick to claim him, and give him a shot.
Noesen immediately clicked in New Jersey. He scored six goals in the final 32 games of the season on a terrible Devils team. He came back last season with 13 goals in 72 games. That’s a career high for him.
He was rewarded with a one-year prove it deal this offseason, going back to restricted free agency at the end of the year. How will that affect him this season?
Well, Noesen is an interesting case when it comes to looking at his future production. Coming into the draft, Noesen was supposed to be a power forward with offensive upside. He was exactly that last season. Can he match that, or even exceed it?
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Well, if we take what he was able to do in Juniors, we know he actually has some more offensive upside than he’s shown. However, most players look great in Juniors when they’re first-round picks. It’s been five years since he’s been in Juniors. It’s been a long time since Noesen was a scoring forward.
Honestly, we should expect a slight regression from Noesen offensively. He’ll get about the same amount of ice time (13 minutes per game), but will spend much of that time on the third and fourth line. He will still get a few clutch goals, but maybe cut one or two points off his total.
Goals: 12
Assists: 12
Points: 24
Noesen will be an important part of the Devils this season, but a large majority of his value doesn’t necessarily mean points. He does do much more that doesn’t end up on the stat sheet.