Noesen Makes His Presence Felt On Devils’ Power Play
Luke Leveling Up
Through the season’s first four games, the Devils power play struggled, connecting just twice in 15 attempts for a 24th-ranked 13.3% efficiency.
To some, it seemed baffling considering all the talent on the ice. Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier, Timo Meier, and Dougie Hamilton was as highly-skilled of a PP1 unit you’ll find in the league. Credit Devils Head Coach Sheldon Keefe for figuring out the missing ingredient, one that took his predecessor a lot longer than four games (I’d argue Lindy Ruff never quite got it).
Any successful NHL power play requires a heavy net front component. It’s not just for screening and deflection purposes, but also to retrieve loose pucks in the dirty areas so the opponents can’t scoop them up and send them down the ice. The early Devils power plays were too perimeter oriented. It begged for a change.
Wing Stefan Noesen isn’t as proficient a goal scorer as some of the highly-regarded net front presences around the league, but he has been just what the power play doctor ordered for New Jersey. Since he was plugged in front for Meier during an October 14 contest versus visiting Utah, the Devils have been a juggernaut with the man advantage.
The Devils’ three power goals in five attempts on Thursday night helped propel them to 6-2 victory and a two-game sweep at the home of defending Stanley Cup champion Florida. It also boosted the team’s power play percentage since Keefe’s tweak to 36.4%, good for second-best in the league behind world-beating Winnipeg over that span.
Per NaturalStatTrick.com, Noesen was on the ice for two of those tallies (he was serving a coincidental minor on the other one) and 12 of New Jersey’s 16 power play goals on the season. On the first one, he was more of the typical net front bystander, but far from an innocent one. He skated by Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky several times as the Devils moved the puck around before Jesper Bratt wristed home the first of his three goals on the evening for a 2-1 Devils lead with two seconds remaining in the first period.
But that’s not all of what’s in Noesen’s toolbox. New Jersey was nursing a 3-2 lead when the power play was called upon again in the final seconds of the second period. As the Devils set up in Florida’s zone this time, Noesen glided out a bit into a passing lane just below the right faceoff dot for Devils captain Nico Hischier’s feed and one-timed the snap shot past a surprised Bobrovsky on his short side for Noesen’s third power play goal of the season.
Noesen’s five-on-five play has also come along of late, which nudged Keefe to move him up to the top line with Hischier and Meier in advance of this unusual two-game set. That trio was buzzing on Thursday, with Noesen sporting a 67.5% expected goals for percentage, per NST. He also was rewarded with an actual goal, opening the scoring by breaking free of Florida defenseman Dmitry Kulikov (the former Devil still stinks) and lunging to backhand home the rebound of a Luke Hughes left point shot into the vacated portion of the cage. Florida Head Coach Paul Maurice was so disturbed by the Hischier line’s early dominance that he switched his top two-way line centered by Aleksander Barkov off of the Jack Hughes matchup to focus on Hischier/Noesen/Meier.
Noesen, who has never eclipsed 0.5 points per game in any of his 10 previous seasons, including the three during a previous stint in New Jersey (the Devils signed him to a free agent deal this summer), is up to nine goals and seven assists in 20 games. Even if the five-on-five production isn’t sustainable, his contributions on the power play have been, in Keefe’s own word during his postgame press conference, “massive.”
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I’ll have more to say about Luke Hughes in the coming weeks, but his play over the two games in Florida deserves a special “Bravo!”
The younger Hughes brother may have finished third in last season’s Calder Trophy voting for Rookie of the Year, but it was a trying one for the 2021 No. 4 overall pick. His 47 points were noteworthy, but he was also prone to egregious turnovers that often ended up in the back of New Jersey’s net.
Hughes has seriously leveled up at the start of his 2024-25 campaign, which was delayed by an offseason shoulder injury. You wouldn’t know it from the scoresheet—his two assists on Thursday doubled his season total from the first 11 games and he has yet to light the lamp—but his defending and ability to extend plays in the offensive zone with his elite skating have been eye-popping. He’s using his size (6-foot 2 and 184 pounds) AND speed to break free of opposing skaters all over the ice.
Some portion of Hughes’ growth can be traced to being paired with savvy veteran Brett Pesce, who was signed to a big free agent deal this summer and missed the exact amount of time as Hughes while recovering from foot surgery. The duo posted an extraordinary 71.35% expected goals for percentage in 27:46 over these last two games at five-on-five, per NST.
Keefe said he was going to keep pushing Hughes to be more aggressive, noting that he’s “in the top 1% of skaters” around the league. Devils opponents must shudder knowing that soon they will be at the mercy of two Hughes brothers at the top of their games.