Noesen grew up playing hockey in the Dallas suburbs; one of his childhood teammates was future Devils teammate Blake Coleman. He eventually moved north at age 14 and ended up playing major junior hockey with the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League. He was selected by the Senators with the first round draft pick, which the team obtained from the Nashville Predators in exchange for forward Mike Fisher. He signed an entry level contract with Ottawa on December 29, 2011. Noesen made the Team USA lineup for the 2013 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships but was not allowed to participate in the tournament. At the time, he was serving a 10-game OHL suspension for a charging incident and the IIHF honored the suspension. A few weeks later, following the resolution of the 2012–13 NHL lockout, Noesen was invited to the Senators' training camp held in Ottawa. He failed to make the Senators' lineup and on January 16, 2013, was returned to junior to play for the major junior team Plymouth Whalers. On July 5, 2013, Noesen was traded to the Anaheim Ducks along with forward Jakob Silfverberg and a first-round pick in the 2014 draft in exchange for forward Bobby Ryan. On December 7, 2016, Noesen scored his first NHL goal. In the midst of his longest tenure in the NHL during the 2016–17 season, Noesen was placed on waivers by the Ducks after 2 goals in 12 games. On January 25, 2017, Noesen was claimed off waivers from Anaheim by the New Jersey Devils. On July 26, 2017, the Devils re-signed Noesen to a one-year, two-way contract worth $660,000. Noesen had a career-high in points the following season, scoring a total of 13 goals and 27 points in 72 games; he was one of several improved players on the team who helped the Devils reach the playoffs for the first time since their Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 2012. His performance improvement earned him another one-year extension with the Devils, which was worth $1.725 million. On June 25, 2019, Noesen was not tendered a qualifying offer to remain with the Devils, releasing him as a free agent. On September 3, Noesen agreed to attend the Dallas Stars' training camp on a professional tryout. Noesen remained with the team to play for his home state club through the pre-season before he was released by the Stars. On October 4, 2019, Noesen signed a one-year, American Hockey League contract with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. After scoring 22 points in as many games with the club, he signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins on December 2. In his debut on December 4, Noesen scored in a 3–0 win over the St. Louis Blues. After being waived by the Penguins, he was claimed by the San Jose Sharks on December 19, 2019. He made his debut two days later against the St. Louis Blues, scoring a goal in a 2–5 loss.