E-Mac's 2011 NHL Entry Draft Top 120: Stefan Noesen #47

By Eldon MacDonald

47. Stefan Noesen - “ Mr. Mack Truck” - RW - USA

Vitals: Size - 6’1”, 195 lb.; Shoots right; born: 12-Feb-93 - Plano, TX
Team: Plymouth, OHL
2010-11 Stats: 68-34-43-77-(+14) + OHL playoffs - 11-6-5-11-16-(-4)

Rankings:
24 - The Scouting Report's Top 100 Skaters
26 - McKeen's June Top 30
32 - Kirk Luedeke's Top 50
30 - Guy Flaming - The Pipeline Show Top 30
33 - Bob MacKenzie's June Poll of Scouts
33 - hfboards Readers’ Poll
35 - Christopher Ralph's Top 210
39 - The Hockey News per TSN
40 - NHL Central Scouting's Final Rankings (35th North American skater)
45 - Future Considerations Final Rankings
47 - E-Mac's 2011 NHL Entry Draft Top 120
47 - Cory Pronman's Top 100
49 - ISS per TSN
Draft result:
21 - Ottawa Senators

So how do make a kid from Texas into a hockey player??? The formula is simple, you take a kid at four; you put him in the living room with his great-grandpa from Canada; you teach him to skate backwards. Add a hockey organization to the area in the name of the Dallas Stars who do a great job of promoting minor hockey. Et voila, you have a hockey player who patterns himself after Guy Carbonneau’s son-in-law - better known to you as Brenden Morrow of the Dallas Stars. And that’s how Stefan Noesen got started in hockey.

Move forward to today and now you have a major talent in the OHL who is likely to be drafted in the first couple of rounds. Stefan Noesen is a north-south type of guy with a shoot first mentality. He is prepared to go hard to the net, bang bodies down low and do what is necessary to disrupt the other team and cause those garbage goals. He skates like a truck driving down main street using his speed and size to run over or through whatever obstacles he may face in his path. He also has a decent shot that he gets off quickly. However, it is his work ethic and character which are elite and will likely be the determining factor in how successful Stefan will be at the next level. So you have a player with average to slightly above average skills with elite drive and determination.

Where Stefan goes in the draft is dependent on what type of role the team drafting him foresees him playing at the next level. Those that see him as a third liner who can pop some goals will have him mid to late second; those that think he can create enough offense to play second line will have him early second, maybe even late first.