Devils Sign Stefan Noesen, Mike Hardman

ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reports the New Jersey Devils have signed forward Stefan Noesen to a three-year, $8.25MM contract. It will be Noesen’s second stint with the Devils organization. They’ve also signed 25-year-old depth forward Mike Hardman to a two-year, two-way deal worth $775K NHL/$350K AHL annually, per PuckPedia.

Noesen spent parts of three seasons with New Jersey the first time around but aside from a good showing in 2017-18, he was largely limited to a depth role.  That continued for a few seasons after he moved on to the point where he was primarily a full-time AHL player, not an NHL player.

However, after a dominant showing with AHL Chicago in 2021-22, Noesen got a full-time opportunity with the Hurricanes the following year.  He certainly made the most of it, picking up 13 goals and 23 assists in 78 games.  The 31-year-old then followed it up with a similar showing last year, tallying 14 goals and 23 helpers in 81 contests despite averaging less than 12 minutes a game of ice time.

The follow-up year was clearly enough to show potential suitors that his late breakout wasn’t a one-off but was rather a sign of things to come, giving him a strong enough market to get more than a 300% increase in salary.  Noesen will likely have a similar role with the Devils as he did in Carolina, playing in their bottom six at five-on-five with the hopes that he can provide some consistent depth scoring.

As for Hardman, last season was the first time in his four-year professional career that he didn’t see any NHL action.  The 25-year-old played exclusively with AHL Rockford, picking up 22 goals and 15 assists in 63 games, all career-highs.  Hardman has 37 career NHL appearances under his belt with Chicago where he has a goal and four assists.  He’s likely earmarked to play with AHL Utica next season.