after the Sharks\u2019 decision to keep Dickinson<\/a>.<\/p>\nTo be a rookie defenseman in the NHL, you\u2019ve got to be mentally tough. Your fault or not, it\u2019s often the back of your jersey that fans see when a goal is allowed. It can be overwhelming for some youngsters.<\/p>\n
Dickinson, to his credit, has bounced back from his worst games and plays this season.<\/p>\n
Case in point, in October against the New York Islanders, when his turnover led to a Casey Cizikas goal:<\/p>\n
Two shifts later though, an aggressive Dickinson read, which showcased his size and athleticism, led to an Adam Gaudette goal:<\/p>\n
But Dickinson, for all his prodigious talents, still has plenty to learn, especially on the defensive side of the puck.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a reason why the Sharks have limited his ice time, 14:30 a night, which is last among San Jose blueliners.<\/p>\n
Two things stand out to Warsofsky right now.<\/p>\n
\u201cStarting the game on time is important. I think he sometimes feels his way through the game, which I understand as a young 19-year-old defenseman,\u201d Warsofsky said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s tough. You get a lot coming at you right away. There’s the energy in the building. It’s loud. There’s a lot of things that go on mentally to get ready for the game,\u201d he noted. \u201cYour routine and everything, the schedule, the travel, where we’re at, did we skate? Did we not skate? So getting your body to feel right and mentally to feel right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ex-AHL assistant coach Jack Han added, \u201cAs a big-minutes player in juniors, it’s understandable that someone like Dickinson would ease into a game at maybe 60-70 percent intensity and then ramp up as he gets warmed up and into the flow of things. However, at the NHL level, as a rookie, on a team that’s not very good at carrying play, he needs to hit the ground running.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve been getting better [at] first shift, just being right on the gas, just trying to get into the game right away, not take time to get into it, or anything like that,\u201d Dickinson said. \u201cSo whether that’s changing things up pre-game, I’ve definitely tried things and I think [I’m going in the] right.\u201d<\/p>\n
The second observation from Warsofsky?<\/p>\n
\u201cReading rushes at this level happens in a millisecond and being able to meet the right read with the right habit of where your stick should be,\u201d he said, \u201cwhere your body position should be, and then [being] ready to make the next play in a blink of an eye, which happens really fast, and getting more comfortable doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Han found an example that addresses both of Warsofsky\u2019s criticisms, from Dickinson\u2019s second shift of the game on Nov. 13 at the Calgary Flames.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe overcommits to his partner’s side of the ice and gives up a shot off the rush,\u201d Han noted. \u201cShortly thereafter, he makes a somewhat careless pass on a back wall retrieval that almost leads to a Calgary scoring chance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThose are the two big areas that we kind of narrowed in on,\u201d Warsofsky said. \u201cThe offensive stuff and the stuff he can do on the blueline and join the rush, he has that, we’re not worried about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dickinson also turns the puck over too much.<\/p>\n
According to Stathletes, Dickinson is NHL-worst among all blueliners in neutral zone giveaways at 5-on-5 per 60, and ninth-worst in DZ giveaways.<\/p>\n
On a better team, Dickinson, frankly, probably isn\u2019t ready for full-time NHL duty. He\u2019s been a bundle of highs and lows, still working on becoming that reliable two-way blueliner that playoff-caliber teams depend on.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not a shot at the 19-year-old: Teen defensemen who are ready to play regular minutes on a contender are few and far between.<\/p>\n
That said, the Sharks didn\u2019t necessarily keep Dickinson in the NHL for the player that he is now: They\u2019re keeping him for the player that he will be by the end of this season, and in the coming years.<\/p>\n
The NHL is a better place for Dickinson to develop than the OHL, and the Sharks believe he has the mental toughness to handle the best league in the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we make this guy a guy we play 25, 26 minutes a night?\u201d Warsofsky said. \u201cThat’s what we’re trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Download and follow the San Jose Hockey Now podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sharks believe Sam Dickinson can handle the rigors of the NHL. That\u2019s why the 2024 No. 11…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5127],"tags":[5,4,1196,519,168,5306,5305,1780],"class_list":{"0":"post-332482","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose-sharks","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-sam-dickinson","11":"tag-san-jose","12":"tag-san-jose-sharks","13":"tag-sanjose","14":"tag-sanjosesharks","15":"tag-sharks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115645297721221125","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}