Playing Career
Friesen played his junior years with the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League (WHL) where he was Rookie of the Year in 1993. He was selected 11th overall in the first round of the 1994 NHL Entry Draft by the San Jose Sharks. He played 14 season in the NHL as a winger, originally as a left winger but also as a right winger.
Friesen played nearly seven seasons with the Sharks, becoming their 3rd all-time leading scorer, but was traded to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim near the end of the 2000–01 season. After playing the following season with the Ducks, he was traded to the New Jersey Devils for the 2002–03 season where he won the Stanley Cup. In the Eastern Conference Finals against the Ottawa Senators that year, Friesen scored the game-winning goal with just under three minutes left in regulation in Game 7. It was his third game-winning goal of the series. Then in Game 7 of the finals, he scored two goals.
On September 26, 2005, the salary cap troubled Devils traded Friesen to the Washington Capitals in exchange for a conditional 2006 draft pick. On March 9, 2006, he was moved again to the Ducks for a second-round draft pick, but spent a significant part of the 2005–06 season sidelined with a groin injury.
Friesen was signed by the Calgary Flames on July 5, 2006 to a 1-year $1.6 million contract for the 2006–07 season. After a disappointing season that had Friesen producing six goals and six assists in seventy-two games, the Calgary Flames chose not to re-sign him. He played in the AHL as a left wing for the Lake Erie Monsters before January 29, 2008, when Friesen was released.
Friesen attended the San Jose Sharks' 2008 training camp on a tryout basis. On October 9, 2008, Sharks Executive Vice President and General Manager Doug Wilson announced that Friesen had been released from training camp. On August 29, 2009, Eisbären Berlin (Berlin Polar Bears) announced that they have signed Friesen to a one-year contract.
Jeff is tied with Jamie Baker for the Sharks single-season short-handed goals record with 6, set in the 1997–98 season.
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