SAN JOSE – Defenseman Sam Dickinson had a disappointing ending to his initial experience playing for Canada at the World Junior Championship in Ottawa in January.
At the tournament, which is always highly scrutinized by hockey fans north of the border, the San Jose Sharks prospect made a pair of unfortunate mistakes that led to two goals against during Canada’s bitter quarterfinal loss to the Czech Republic.
The miscues were not the only reason why Canada lost. Still, a few days later, Todd Marchant tried to offer Dickinson some perspective.
“You’re going to experience adversity,” said Marchant, the Sharks’ director of player development. “He made a couple of mistakes in a couple of the games, and it really affected him later on. It was like he couldn’t get past it.
“I just said the best players in the National Hockey League, they make mistakes, too. But they’re able to move on from it and be able to continue to play the game that they’re capable of.”
Dickinson, still just 18, went on to have one of the most productive regular seasons by a defenseman in the Ontario Hockey League with 91 points in 55 games, setting a new London Knights record. He followed that with 31 points in 17 playoff games, helping lead London to its second straight league championship.
Last month, Dickinson won the Max Kaminsky Trophy as the OHL’s Defenseman of the Year.
“He’s showing a whole new level of confidence,” Marchant said of Dickinson. “His ability to make plays offensively, he just has great offensive instincts. Not only did we see it in the regular season, but we’re seeing it in the playoffs.”
Now London is back in the Memorial Cup for the second straight year, and Dickinson and fellow Sharks prospect Kasper Halttunen are front and center as the Knights look to win their first CHL championship since 2016.
London advanced to the final last year but lost to host and OHL rival Saginaw. The Knights began this year’s tournament with a 3-2 overtime win over Moncton on Saturday, with Dickinson assisting on a first-period goal and Halttunen scoring in the second.
London faces host Rimouski on Sunday at 3 p.m. (PT) as the round robin portion of the four-team event continues.
“I think there’s a little bit of a fire burning with those guys,” Marchant said, “and they want to get redemption and come away as Memorial Cup champions.”
While Halttunen, a second-round pick by the Sharks in 2023 who turns 20 next month, will be in San Jose full time next season, either in the NHL or AHL, a South Bay address for Dickinson is no sure thing.
After a dominant OHL season, Dickinson might be best suited to continue his development with the Barracuda in the fall. However, he is ineligible for the AHL since he will not turn 20 until June 2026.
The NCAA is also out of the question for Dickinson since he signed his entry-level contract with the Sharks last July, shortly after the team selected him 11th overall in last year’s NHL Draft in Las Vegas.
So it’s the NHL or OHL for Dickinson, who faces some obstacles right now.
While some changes could be in order, the Sharks already have five defensemen signed through next season: Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Mario Ferraro, Timothy Liljegren, Vincent Desharnais, and Henry Thrun.
If they are all healthy and still with the Sharks at the start of the season, that would only leave two or three available roster spots. Shakir Mukhamadullin, Jack Thompson, Luca Cagnoni, and perhaps Lucas Carlsson will be in the mix for those jobs. And that doesn’t include whatever defensemen the Sharks may add via trade or free agency.
Dickinson has drawn comparisons to Edmonton Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard, a terrific skater with a great shot who can have lapses on defense. Still, Dickinson’s combination of size (6-foot-3, 210 pounds), skating, and offensive ability set him apart from other Sharks defensemen.
“He’s a little sleepy, a little rocking chair sometimes,” Sportsnet analyst Jason Bukala said of Dickinson on “The Fan Hockey Show” this past week. “But, boy, when he goes, this kid’s an elite skater, big body, can really rip the puck. What a nice problem to have.”
To make the Sharks’ roster out of camp this fall and start the season with the team, Dickinson must earn the coaching staff’s trust and have a better camp than he did last season. Too often in preseason games last year, Dickinson got caught standing still and was left in bad spots, which led to unnecessary turnovers.
“He’s got to defend well,” Marchant said. “Coaches will find places for players if they can defend well. There’s no denying his offensive ability and instincts.
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“(He needs to) get back, move his feet, move pucks effectively out of the zone, and be trusted defensively when he gets stuck in his own zone. If he can do those things, he has a chance to stick around with the big club.”
If Dickinson doesn’t stay with the Sharks roster next season, could his development stagnate? There’s always that concern with talented junior players, Marchant said, but Dickinson will get the opportunity to be in the NHL. What he does with it is up to him.
“Sam had a little bit of a letdown when he went back” to London last fall, Marchant said. “It took him about five to 10 games to get his feet back under him. It happens to a lot of junior players when they get sent back. We’ll see what Sam brings.”