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SAN JOSE – As a 20-year-old with size, tremendous skating ability, and plenty of offensive upside, Sam Dickinson figures to play an important role on the San Jose Sharks’ defense corps for years to come.
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For now, though, the Sharks’ coaching staff just wants to see how Dickinson’s game – particularly in his own zone — can grow from season one in the NHL to season two.
After spending most of last season on the third defense pair, Dickinson wants to play in more situations and grow into a top-four role. To do that, he needs to become someone coach Ryan Warsofsky can trust to make the right decisions at any given moment in a game.
“We need to free him up, in a sense, and let him play his game,” Warsofsky said of Dickinson on Tuesday. “But there’s also a responsibility going into year two of how you need to play so you can play the minutes that he wants to.”
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Dickinson finished his rookie season with 14 points in 72 games. His ice time increased from an average of 14:30 per game through October and November to 18:34 from December to April. He went from barely playing on the penalty kill to being one of the first defensemen on the ice in those situations.
“I want to prove to the coaches that I’ve built off of last year, and I can be more trustworthy in all scenarios of the game,” said Dickinson, the 11th overall pick of the 2024 draft. “That’s been a big focus of mine coming into camp, competing as hard as I can, learning as much as possible with the new things that are being implemented.”
Although the Sharks are acutely aware of Dickinson’s offensive capabilities – he had 122 points in 72 regular season and playoff games with the London Knights in 2024-25 – helping him cut down the quality scoring chances against seems to be the top priority.
That includes boxing out, blocking shots, ending plays quicker in the defensive zone, and making a quality first pass.
Per Natural Stat Trick, Dickinson had 76 giveaways during 5-on-5 play last season, the third most among all Sharks defensemen, behind Dmitry Orlov (95) and Mario Ferraro (78). Dickinson was also on the ice for 242 high-danger chances against 5-on-5, compared to 211 high-danger chances for.
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“There’s going to be a heightened responsibility in those certain moments in the game,” Warsofsky said. “It speeds up on him a little bit, and he tries to make something that … it’s a high-risk play there. He tries to jump on the other side when there’s not a very high reward in that play.
“So just having him understand those situations, I think, will clean up a lot of his game.”
In the Sharks’ preseason opener on Sunday in Anaheim, Dickinson lost position on the Ducks’ first goal, allowing Cutter Gauthier to slip by him on the boards near the defensive blue line and set up Jackson LaCombe for an easy 2-on-1 goal.
“I’d want that first goal back. Just caught on the wrong side, and just need to fix the positioning there,” Dickinson said. “But after that, I settled in a little bit, kind of found my game a little more, started moving my feet. I was really focused on the defensive side of everything with the new systems, and just wanted to be really solid there.”
“Obviously the goal against is not ideal,” Warsofsky said. “There’s certainly, you know, a lot of things that we need to get cleaned up and probably cleaned up pretty quickly.”
Dickinson did not play in Tuesday’s preseason game against the Vegas Golden Knights, but will likely see action in at least one more exhibition game. San Jose hosts Anaheim on Tuesday and travels to play Vegas on Saturday.
“We’re kind of getting ready to win here, and that’s where the train’s moving,” Warsofsky said, referencing the end of the Sharks’ rebuild. “You have to earn your ice time, you have to earn those responsibilities in certain situations. We’ve still got three more exhibition games and a lot can play out.”
GAUDETTE UPDATE
Sharks winger Adam Gaudette, who missed practice Saturday and Sunday, did not skate Tuesday and remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury. He’s a little more sore than expected, Warsofsky said, and it remained unclear as to when he might rejoin practice.
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This story was originally published September 22, 2026 at 4:10 PM.