Sam Dickinson will make his NHL debut on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
And no, it wasn\u2019t at owner Hasso Plattner<\/a>\u2018s request.<\/p>\n Dickinson, the San Jose Sharks\u2019 11th overall selection during the 2024 NHL Draft, dominated the Ontario Hockey League last season as a member of the London Knights. After a promising performance in training camp, he\u2019ll face the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday, perhaps next to Dmitry Orlov, who he was paired with at practice on Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019ll be pretty cool, obviously, a home game and and everything like that,\u201d Dickinson said. \u201c[It] seems like it\u2019s everything I\u2019ve been been working towards, and every kid who plays hockey\u2019s dream. It\u2019ll be a really special day.\u201d<\/p>\n Making the day even more special for the 19-year-old Dickinson, is the fact that his parents Steve and Megan are in San Jose and will attend tomorrow night\u2019s game.<\/p>\n \u201cMy dad, he\u2019s been my No. 1 fan since I started playing hockey. He\u2019d sacrifice going on vacations, my family [would] stick back with me and stay in freezing cold Toronto for a tournament, or be up at 6am to take me to a practice,\u201d said the top San Jose Sharks prospect said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019ve ever told him, but there\u2019s no way I\u2019ll ever be able to repay him. Same thing with my mom. She\u2019s probably my No. 1 supporter in terms of, I don\u2019t think she\u2019s ever told me about a bad game, and she\u2019s always there to kind of pick me up if I\u2019m feeling down. It\u2019ll definitely mean a lot to them, and a lot more to me, knowing that they\u2019re here.\u201d<\/p>\n Many, including Plattner, were disappointed by the news that Dickinson was sitting out of the Sharks\u2019 first game of the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s pretty cool to have the kind of belief from him,\u201d Dickinson said of the San Jose Sharks owner, who he chatted with on Thursday. \u201c[It] definitely means a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n Even though Dickinson wasn\u2019t on the ice on Thursday, he still learned a lot from being around the team during the season opener.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was the first game that I got to see up close like that,\u201d he stated. \u201c[I] just take everything I can and see little plays that happen, mark them in the back of my mind, see what those guys do.\u201d<\/p>\n Dickinson was also able to take in all of the festivities of opening night in front of a sold-out SAP Center, which only helped grow his excitement.<\/p>\n \u201cYou could see yesterday that there\u2019s a lot of juice for this season and excitement around so just to be a little part of that\u2019s pretty cool,\u201d he said. \u201cSeeing that, I definitely think the excitement\u2019s there and just brings even a little more.\u201d<\/p>\n And now, it\u2019s the 2025 CHL Defenseman of the Year\u2019s turn to bring the excitement.<\/p>\n Sam Dickinson says he\u2019s still living in a hotel right now. That may change at some point here.<\/p>\n \u2014 Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) October 10, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t