The New Jersey Devils were successful in their 2017-18 campaign and part of the reason was due to the fact that the team actually had good depth players that were not being forced to play over their heads. The addition of Nico Hischier and Marcus Johansson as legitimate top 6 forward talents, as well as the surprise emergence of Jesper Bratt allowed some players to thrive in lineup spots where they were more comfortable. One of those players was Stefan Noesen.
Noesen started out as a 2011 late first round pick of the Ottawa Senators, but he would never appear in an NHL game for the team.