Stefan Noesen Ruled Out For Season, Brett Pesce Questionable To Return
New Jersey Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe announced today that injured forward Stefan Noesen has been ruled out for the remainder of the 2025-26 season, while defenseman Brett Pesce is “questionable” to return this year as well.
Noesen, 33, underwent knee surgery in January. From that point, he was considered out indefinitely, and now the Devils have confirmed that the surgery has ended his 2025-26 campaign.
It was a difficult season even before the injury for the veteran forward. He had a strong debut campaign in Newark last season, scoring a career-high 22 goals and 41 points in 78 games. He provided New Jersey with an instant return-on-investment after they paid him $2.75MM on a three-year deal to sign with them as an unrestricted free agent.
This season, Noesen’s numbers declined sharply. He scored just three goals and seven points in 38 contests, also seeing his average ice time decline from 15:55 per game to just 11:45 per game. Today’s news confirms that Noesen’s immediate priority will not be getting his scoring back on the right track, but instead will be about recovery and getting himself back into full health in time for next season.
Since New Jersey would need a miracle run to reach the playoffs at this point in the season, the confirmation of Noesen’s extended absence also allows the Devils to more fully shift their focus to developing younger players in the NHL, with an eye toward next season. It’s possible a younger winger such as Lenni Hameenaho pushes Noesen for minutes when both arrive at training camp later this year.
The loss of Pesce is arguably the more significant one for New Jersey, as he’s not only one of the team’s top defenseman, but he’s also a player the club has a major financial investment in. The 31-year-old costs $5.5MM against the cap through the end of the decade, meaning New Jersey has a pressing interest in ensuring he’s healthy and able to provide them with as much on-ice value over the course of his contract as possible. Pesce has been out since March 3 with a lower-body injury, and is considered week-to-week.
Seeing as the Devils, as previously mentioned, aren’t bound for the playoffs next month, the team is unlikely to have much interest in pushing the timeline to get Pesce back on the ice as soon as possible. Instead, a silver lining to the team’s uneven performance this season is that they will be able to afford Pesce as much time as possible to recover without any on-ice pressures.
Pesce has fit in well since arriving in New Jersey, bringing along his trademark steady, reliable defensive style. He was New Jersey’s No. 1 defenseman in terms of raw time on ice per game last season, averaging 21:19 per game, including a heavy penalty-killing role. This season, he ranks No. 3 as Luke Hughes has taken on a more commanding role on the team’s defense.
Devils Notes: Pesce, Cholowski, Gritsyuk
The New Jersey Devils will be down a usual lineup piece this weekend. Defenseman Brett Pesce will be unavailable due to a lower-body injury, head coach Sheldon Keefe told NHL.com’s Mike Morreale.
Pesce has already missed 25 games this season with extended absences in November and February. He fills a key role in the lineup when healthy, playing upwards of 22 minutes a night when New Jersey is looking for a shutdown piece. Pesce has worked to seven points and a minus-11 in 37 games this season. He ranks second on the Devils in shot blocks (80) and fourth on the defense in takeaways (16). Pesce has been knocked off course by injury in his age-31 season but his two-way reliability will still continue to command major lineup minutes when he’s back to full health.
Other notes out of New Jersey:
- The Devils have responded to Pesce’s injury by recalling depth defenseman Dennis Cholowski from the AHL. Cholowski didn’t begin his season until November, due to injury, but his year started on the NHL roster. He scored one point in 15 games through November and December while filling in during Pesce’s first extended absence of the season. Cholowski was reassigned on December 14th and has spent the entirety of the new calendar year in the AHL. He has racked up five assists in 13 games. Pesce’s injury likely won’t push Cholowski ahead of Simon Nemec and Brendan Dillon on the depth chart but it will give New Jersey one more set of hands as they approach back-to-back games.
- Away from injury news, the Devils have also begun talks of a contract extension with winger Arseny Gritsyuk, general manager Tom Fitzgerald told Devils’ team reporter Amanda Stein. Gristyuk has scored 11 goals and 26 points in 58 games as an NHL rookie this season. He is on pace for 15 goals and 37 points across a full 82-game season, which would be the seventh-highest scoring total from a Devils rookie since 2000. Gritsyuk blossomed in Russia’s KHL over the last three seasons, kicked off with 40 points in 60 games of Omsk Avangard’ 2022-23 campaign, and concluded with 44 points in 49 games with SKA St. Petersburg last year. He has adjusted seamlessly into an NHL top-nine role in the season since. That should be enough to earn Gritsyuk a contract with term as he looks to sign the first deal after his entry-level contract. He is set to become a restricted free agent with arbitration rights this summer.
Snapshots: Eller, Kotkaniemi, Pesce
As the trade deadline nears, one Ottawa Senators veteran that could draw trade interest is 36-year-old Danish center Lars Eller. According to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen, the Senators “have had calls on most of their pending UFAs,” and he “could see a scenario where Eller is moved.” Eller is Ottawa’s fourth-line center, his role entirely a result of his defensive capability rather than his offensive production. Over the last two seasons, Eller has managed just eight goals and 24 points in 109 games, but that doesn’t mean he’s not pulling his weight in other ways. He’s playing regularly on Ottawa’s penalty kill, and has been a key asset at the faceoff dot, winning nearly 58% of his draws. A team looking to add a veteran fourth-line center might have considerable interest in Eller, especially as he has something often highly coveted in veteran rental players: a Stanley Cup ring.
From Ottawa’s perspective, dealing Eller isn’t likely to return much other than a minor draft pick, but it would provide some other benefits to the club. The Senators sit a full six points behind the Boston Bruins for the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot, having played the same number of games. With the club looking less likely to return to the playoffs with each passing day, it might be more prudent for the club to hand the regular role Eller occupies to a younger player, such as the promising Stephen Halliday. Halliday, 23, has 11 points in 28 games this season despite averaging just 8:11 time on ice per game, the fewest among regular Senators forwards.
Other notes from around the NHL:
- Carolina Hurricanes center Jesperi Kotkaniemi was dressed tonight for the Hurricanes’ contest against the Vancouver Canucks, marking the Finnish pivot’s re-entry into the Hurricanes’ lineup after three consecutive games as a healthy scratch. With the deadline creeping closer, Kotkaniemi’s status is one to monitor as reports emerged in January that the Hurricanes were shopping the player. It’s unlikely the team’s interest in dealing Kotkaniemi has ceased, and so today’s decision to dress the center marks the final time he’ll be able to appear before NHL pro scouts before the trade deadline. Kotkaniemi has four years remaining on his contract at a $4.82MM cap hit, and has a 10-team no-trade list in his contract. The 2018 No. 3 overall pick scored 12 goals and 33 points last season but has just nine points in 36 games this year.
- New Jersey Devils defenseman Brett Pesce did not play in tonight’s shootout win over the Toronto Maple Leafs due to an injury, head coach Sheldon Keefe announced pregame. The Devils replaced Pesce in their lineup with Johnathan Kovacevic, who did not play in the team’s prior two games. Pesce is New Jersey’s No. 3 defenseman by ice time, playing 20:18 per game, including a team-high 2:29 per game on the penalty kill. Kovacevic was a leading penalty killer for New Jersey last season, but has seen his ice time decline as he missed much of the first half of the year with an injury. Kovacevic is playing 16:43 per game this season, including just over a minute per game on the penalty kill.
Devils Activate Brett Pesce, Place Arseny Gritsyuk On Injured Reserve
After missing the past 24 games with an upper-body injury, the Devils announced they’ve activated top-pair defenseman Brett Pesce from injured reserve, indicating he’ll be in the lineup tonight against the Golden Knights. The team placed winger Arseny Gritsyuk on IR retroactive to Dec. 11 in the corresponding move.
The Devils had been anxiously awaiting Pesce’s clearance for weeks, but the injection of a right-shot defender into the lineup became all the more important after Simon Nemec sustained an undisclosed injury during practice last Friday that will have him out for at least a couple of weeks. They’ve been dealing with the season-long absence of righty Johnathan Kovacevic as well, making Pesce’s standing on the team all the more important.
Pesce had three assists and a +3 rating in nine games to begin the year. That coincided with an 8-1-0 start to the year, making New Jersey look like a legitimate contender to end up atop the Metropolitan Division. Since then, the Devils have gone 10-13-1 with their possession numbers dipping in the process.
There are a variety of factors that go into a slump, but being forced into breaking up what had been one of the best defense pairs in the league through the early going is high on that list. Pesce and Luke Hughes had served as the Devils’ most dominant unit on the blue line, controlling 60.2% of expected goals. Without Pesce, Hughes has been underwater in every possession metric. His point production has dipped as well, down to 0.55 per game after peaking with 0.62 per game as a second-year player last season.
The Devils’ press release indicated Pesce will be paired with Hughes again tonight, ideally giving them a true top-pair level of play that Dougie Hamilton and Jonas Siegenthaler haven’t been able to provide in the interim.
A healthier defense is paramount to help overcome the loss of a fifth forward to the injured or non-roster list in Gritsyuk. The Russian rookie, who’s eighth on the team in scoring with seven goals and 16 points in 31 games, has already missed the last two games with an upper-body injury.
He joins Jack Hughes, Evgenii Dadonov, and Zack MacEwen on IR, while Timo Meier carries a non-roster designation while on personal leave. Since he’s already missed six days, Gritsyuk will be eligible to return on Dec. 19 against the Mammoth, but that’s not feasible since he didn’t travel with the team on their raod trip. It’ll be Sunday at home against the Sabres to mark Gritsyuk’s first opportunity to get back into the lineup.
Latest On Simon Nemec, Brett Pesce
The New Jersey Devils are among the NHL’s most injured teams at this stage of the 2025-26 campaign, and their bad luck with injuries is only set to continue. Team reporter Amanda Stein relayed word today from Devils practice that defenseman Simon Nemec will be out until at least the holiday break.
Head coach Sheldon Keefe said, per Stein, that the team will have a better idea of Nemec’s recovery in two weeks, and will be able to determine what the next step is for him at that point. Nemec suffered a lower-body injury during practice on Friday and has missed back-to-back games for the Devils.
This development throws a bit of a wrench into what has been a breakout campaign for Nemec, the 2022 No. 2 overall pick. Nemec was a dynamic prospect during his draft year and played quite well at the AHL level, but took a little bit longer than some of his peers from his draft class to find his footing at the NHL level. 
While the other top-five picks from the 2022 draft (Montreal’s Juraj Slafkovsky, Utah’s Logan Cooley, Seattle’s Shane Wright, and Anaheim’s Cutter Gauthier) had each managed to break into the NHL and establish themselves in meaningful scoring roles in 2023-24 and 2024-25, Nemec’s NHL role appeared to decline after his rookie campaign.
He skated in 60 NHL games in 2023-24, but only got into 27 games at the NHL level in 2024-25. His total of AHL games played consequently rose from 13 to 34 year-over-year.
While Nemec was spending most of last season back in the AHL, Slafkovsky was putting together his second consecutive 50-point season, Cooley was emerging as a star in Utah, and both Wright and Gauthier managed solid 44-point rookie campaigns.
Fans naturally compared Nemec to his peers from that draft class, and many considered his level of progress, which appeared slower than his peers, to be a matter of concern. But that level of concern wasn’t entirely fair, as defensemen often take a little longer than forwards to come into their own at the NHL level.
It could have hardly come as a surprise to Devils management, for example, that Nemec wouldn’t have his NHL breakout at exactly the same time as the forwards drafted near him. And so far in 2025-26, all Nemec has done is put together the same kind of breakout campaign his peers managed last year.
Nemec has 18 points through 31 games this season, a 48-point full-season pace. He’s been the Devils’ No. 3 defenseman in terms of ice time this season, and is also finding his way onto the team’s power play despite the presence of Dougie Hamilton and Luke Hughes already on the Devils’ roster.
In other words, the Nemec the Devils have received this season has been exactly the kind of dynamic, two-way force the team believed they’d get when they invested the No. 2 overall pick in him. That’s what makes Nemec’s new injury such an unfortunate development, as it puts a halt on Nemec’s breakout season for at least the next two weeks.
Thankfully for New Jersey, while they’re losing Nemec to a new injury, a key veteran right-shot defenseman appears to be nearing a return from injury: Brett Pesce. Stein reported today that Pesce participated in Devils practice and will travel with the team for their upcoming road trip. While Pesce, 31, doesn’t offer the same level of offensive ability Nemec brings to the table, he does offer a shutdown element to his game that this current Devils lineup is badly missing.
Pesce led all Devils blueliners in time-on-ice per game last season and his quality performances as a defensive defenseman more than made up for the Devils’ hefty investment in him. Pesce is under contract at a $5.5MM AAV through 2029-30, and his imminent return should soften the blow of losing Nemec and allow the Devils to remain competitive in what has been a hotly contested Metropolitan Division playoff race.
Photos courtesy Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images
Injury Notes: Pesce, Jenner, Cooley
Last night, Ryan Novozinsky of njdotcom asked Devils Head Coach Sheldon Keefe for an update on defenseman Brett Pesce. As shared by Novozinsky, while the key defenseman is progressing, he is still not close to a return, and remains considered week-to-week.
The blueliner has now been absent for over a month after blocking a shot against the Avalanche and leaving mid-game. The initial thought was at least one month, so the update is not great, but it appears the veteran is on the right track for a return by January. While Pesce never jumps out on the stat sheet, anyone remotely familiar with his game knows his importance as a top shutdown defender. Prior to going down, he and Luke Hughes were a formidable pair, complementing each other’s games perfectly.
Impressively, New Jersey has battled through the adversity of losing Pesce, along with Jack Hughes and others, remaining atop the Metropolitan, especially thanks to a 9-1-1 home record. 21-year-old Simon Nemec has stepped up of late, being trusted with high minutes from Keefe, and starting to break through from his second-overall selection billing. However, Pesce’s absence is a major hole, and if the Devils are to hold off the Hurricanes along with the many other formidable teams in the division, they will need their steady leader back, placing their elite young defenders Hughes and Nemec back into more favorable roles.
Elsewhere across the league:
- Blue Jackets Head Coach Dean Evason told Jeff Svoboda, Columbus’ team reporter, that Boone Jenner is “close” to returning, but likely not tomorrow against the Devils. The captain practiced today but is being phased back gradually. Jenner landed on IR two weeks ago with an upper-body-injury, and it was thought to be longer term, so a return by early December is favorable. The 32-year-old career long Jacket has 10 points in 16 games, and while a Monday return seems out of the cards, Jenner could return on Thursday as Columbus hosts Detroit.
- Insider Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff confirmed that Utah forward Logan Cooley appears to have “dodged a bullet”, with an initial finding of a quad contusion. Although further testing will be done, it seems to confirm last night’s sentiment that a serious injury was avoided. Cooley’s knee-on-knee collision with Alexei Toropchenko immediately caught the concern of the league, as he had to be helped off the ice, earning Toropchenko a match penalty. In an update from Matthew DeFranks of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Toropchenko will not face supplemental discipline for the hit. Thankfully it appears the dynamic young star Cooley, with 23 points in 26 games, will not be sidelined for long.
Devils Place Brett Pesce On IR, Activate Cody Glass
The Devils officially announced that defenseman Brett Pesce has been placed on injured reserve. His roster spot will go to center Cody Glass, who’s coming off IR and will be available tonight against the Canadiens.
Pesce’s IR placement is backdated to his last appearance on Oct. 26. Since that’s more than a week ago, he can technically be activated at any time, but he’ll be on IR for at least a couple of more weeks. The team said Pesce, who’s dealing with an upper-body issue, won’t be back until Thanksgiving at the earliest.
In his second season in New Jersey, the 30-year-old continues to play as their top shutdown option. Not including his last game, in which he played 6:07 before leaving with the injury, he was averaging 21:20 of ice time, which would stand as second on the team amid what’s been an incredibly balanced deployment from head coach Sheldon Keefe regarding his back end. Of the Devils’ six regulars on defense, none has averaged more than 22 minutes per game, and none has averaged less than 16.
Before the injury, Pesce had three assists and a +3 rating in nine showings. He was Luke Hughes‘ right-hand man at even strength with spectacular results. Among the 104 defense pairings with at least 60 minutes together, Hughes and Pesce’s 60.2 xGF% ranks 10th, per MoneyPuck.
Seamus Casey and Dennis Cholowski have rotated into the lineup in Pesce’s absence. The former is no longer an option, at least for now, after he was sent back to AHL Utica yesterday in exchange for veteran Colton White.
As for Glass, the Devils are welcoming him back after a 16-day, seven-game absence. He played in six straight to start the year before sustaining an upper-body injury against the Maple Leafs on Oct. 21. So far, he’s given New Jersey decent reward for the two-year, $5MM contract they signed him to this summer. He had two goals and a +1 rating while seeing 12:34 of ice time per game. He was centering the third line between Connor Brown and Arseny Gritsyuk before exiting the lineup. Glass returns to that slot tonight, per Mike Morreale of NHL.com, but will have Ondřej Palát on his flank instead of Brown as the latter deals with an undisclosed injury for the third straight game.
Devils’ Brett Pesce Out At Least One Month
Oct. 28: Pesce’s upper-body injury will keep him out of the lineup for at least a month, according to the team’s Amanda Stein.
Oct. 26: The New Jersey Devils will head on their upcoming four-game road trip without defenseman Brett Pesce, head coach Sheldon Keefe told team reporter Amanda Stein after Sunday’s win over the Colorado Avalanche. Pesce left that game in the first period after blocking a shot. Keefe told the media that Pesce’s injury was “not great”.
This is yet another blow to the Devils’ blue line. They are already missing reliable depth defender Johnathan Kovacevic, who is still recovering from a knee injury sustained during the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. New Jersey has avoided major lineup changes in light of Kovacevic’s injury, largely thanks to young pro Simon Nemec, who has seven assists in nine games this season. But Pesce’s absence will force the Devils to reach into their depth chart. Dennis Cholowski is currently on the NHL roster as an extra defenseman and should receive the first chance to step into a nightly role. New Jersey could also lean on AHL prospects, and collegiate teammates, Ethan Edwards and Seamus Casey.
Even with the promising upside of their young prospects, New Jersey will struggle to fill Pesce’s role entirely. The 11-year pro has recorded three points and a plus-two in eight games this season, while averaging the second-highest ice time on the team (21:21) behind Dougie Hamilton (21:53). Pesce has spent almost all of his even-strength minutes next to top youngster Luke Hughes. Now in their second year playing together, the two have managed to outscore their opponents four-to-one at even-strength. They lead the team’s blue line in Goals-For percentage (80 percent) and Expected-Goals-For percentage (63.1 percent) per MoneyPuck.
Pesce and Hughes were plenty effective together last year as well. They were outscored 31-to-38 at even-strength, but generated a lofty 953 shots across the full season – over 100 more than any other Devils pairing. New Jersey averaged over one shot on net for every minute Hughes and Pesce were on the ice. They won their Expected-Goals battle as a result of the volume shooting, posting a 53.1 xGF% across 70 games together.
Pesce’s absence could push Nemec into an important, top-pair role next to Hughes, which would preserve the high-firing pairing of Hamilton and Jonas Siegenthaler. Nemec received the third-most ice time on New Jersey’s defense (23:35) in Sunday’s overtime matchup. It’s the fourth-most he’s ever played in a regular-season game, and he vindicated it with three assists, two shots, and five blocked shots. That kind of performance will be exactly what New Jersey needs as they face the absence of a 700-game pro.
Afternoon Notes: Pesce, Hintz, Finnie
Amanda Stein, team reporter of the New Jersey Devils, shared mid-game that Brett Pesce did not return for the second period of the team’s matinee tilt vs Colorado. The defenseman notched 6 minutes in the first but missed his final shifts of the period and did not return.
Especially given the Devils’ hot start, currently atop the league, and their consistent stream of injuries, it is certainly the hope that Pesce’s injury is not serious, and many will keep a watchful eye on further updates today.
Elsewhere across the league:
- Lia Assimakopoulos of the Dallas News wrote earlier today that Stars forward Roope Hintz will miss tonight’s game in Nashville. Given the club’s activation of Oskar Bäck earlier today, it appears the 6’4” center could appear tonight for his season debut. Meanwhile, Hintz was shaken up last night from a big hit into the boards from Taylor Hall, one which gave Hall a charging minor. Further details of Hintz’s injury have not been disclosed, but Dallas will cross their fingers that their star, currently at a point a game pace, is not out long-term.
- Kevin Allen of Detroit Hockey Now shared earlier today a story on Red Wings rookie Emmitt Finnie, a former seventh-round-pick who has burst onto the scene. Finnie first earned a spot on the Wings’ roster which was impressive enough, but now he is featured on the team’s top line, with 8 points in 9 games. As mentioned by Allen, few seventh-rounders even make the NHL (20 since 2019) but zero have made an immediate impact like Finnie, who is right among the league’s best rookies so far in 2025-26. His contributions have helped Detroit to a great start as they aim to finally take a step back into the playoffs. Whatever may happen, Finnie’s all-around-game is showing to be an absolute steal from the Wings at 201st overall in the 2023 draft, a franchise no stranger to such throughout their history.
Devils Issue Multiple Injury Updates
One of the goals of the preseason is to get through things injury-free or as close to it as possible. While plenty of teams have been successful on that front over the past few weeks (at least so far), the Devils have not been one of those. Speaking with reporters (video link), head coach Sheldon Keefe provided updates on several players, with most of them not of the positive variety.
Prospect blueliner Seamus Casey was having a strong training camp but that has come to a sudden conclusion. He is now dealing with an undisclosed injury with Keefe noting that he won’t be on skates for the foreseeable future. The 21-year-old had four goals and four assists in just 14 games with New Jersey last season while also notching 18 points in 30 games with AHL Utica. It looked like he had a realistic chance of breaking camp with the team but instead, he’ll start the season on season-opening injured reserve where he’ll have a prorated cap charge relative to the percentage of time he was on New Jersey’s roster last season.
The one good injury tidbit also came on the back end. Brett Pesce skated Friday after leaving their last preseason game early. At this point, his availability for opening night remains up in the air but the fact he was skating suggests that he either will be available for that game or should be back soon after. Pesce had 17 points and 138 blocked shots in 72 games last season while averaging over 21 minutes a night of playing time.
Meanwhile, up front, winger Stefan Noesen has been dealing with a groin injury that he played through last season and re-aggravated over the summer. While the hope was that he was making some progress in recovery, Keefe noted that he is not yet close to playing. The 32-year-old had a career year last season, collecting 22 goals and 41 points in 78 games while chipping in with 152 hits but now he won’t be available on opening night either.
The same can be said for center Juho Lammikko. After spending the last three seasons in Switzerland with Zurich, he signed a one-year, $800K contract to try to return to the NHL. However, Keefe indicated that he is out for the near future as well. Notably, his contract is a one-way pact, meaning it will count in full against New Jersey’s salary cap while he’s injured, even if he’s ultimately going to be ticketed to play in Utica.