Penguins Sign Stefan Noesen to NHL Deal; Waive Joseph Blandisi

The Penguins have signed forward Stefan Noesen to a one-year contract, general manager Jim Rutherford announced on Monday. He will report to Pittsburgh.

Noesen, 26, had been playing with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on an American Hockey League contract. The one-year, two-way contract will pay him an average annual value of $700,000 per year at the NHL level.

In 22 games with WBS this season, Noesen had 14 goals and eight assists for 22 points, leading the Penguins’ top minor-league affiliate in goals and tying for the team lead in points. Noesen carried a plus-8 rating and had 58 penalty minutes with the AHL Penguins.

A former first-round draft pick of the Ottawa Senators, Noesen has played 159 career NHL games with the Anaheim Ducks and New Jersey Devils. He has 23 career goals and 21 career assists.

Noesen’s best NHL season came in 2017-18, when he had 13 goals and 14 assists in 72 games for the Devils. He signed a $1.75 million contract extension for the 2018-19 season with New Jersey, but he played in just 41 games the following season and was not tendered a contract for 2019-20.

He skated on a tryout basis with the Dallas Stars in training camp but was not offered a contract and signed with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Oct. 4.

The Penguins also placed forward Joseph Blandisi on waivers. Blandisi, 25, has bounced between Pittsburgh and Wilkes-Barre, playing 10 games for each this season. He has one goal and two assists at the NHL level and three goals and three assists in the AHL. He will be on waivers until Tuesday at noon.

The Penguins practiced with just 11 healthy forwards after Patric Hornqvist was injured in practice on Monday and before waiving Blandisi, so Noesen appears to be in line to join the lineup as soon as Wednesday night’s game against the St. Louis Blues.