{"id":476947,"date":"2026-09-27T00:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T00:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/476947\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T00:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T00:48:08","slug":"could-the-sharks-really-scratch-dickinson-on-opening-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/476947\/","title":{"rendered":"Could The Sharks Really Scratch Dickinson On Opening Night?"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the regular season rapidly approaching, the San Jose Sharks will soon be forced to make some tough decisions.<\/p>\n

At the start of training camp, defenseman Sam Dickinson\u2019s<\/a> spot on the Sharks\u2019 opening-night blueline seemed like a lock, but that could be changing. With Luca Cagnoni<\/a> appearing to have secured a spot on the team and the first power-play unit, only one lineup spot on the blue line remains. Most teams carry two extra forwards and one extra defenseman.<\/p>\n

After a slow start to training camp, defenseman Nolan Allan<\/a> has begun to turn heads. He isn\u2019t flashy, and doesn\u2019t need to be. He has been steady and nearly mistake-free in the exhibition games he\u2019s played. Allan has played in all three preseason games and earned one assist while posting a +5 rating.<\/p>\n

The same can\u2019t be said for Dickinson. From the start, the decision-making mistakes that plagued his rookie season are still popping up. Dickinson has one assist and is +2 in two games. Although he hasn\u2019t been bad, Allan\u2019s lower mistake total than Dickinson\u2019s is catching the coaching staff\u2019s eye.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust his composure, the way he plays, shift in and shift out. He takes hits to make plays. He\u2019s physical. He has an identity to himself. He\u2019s really come into his own,\u201d Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky<\/a> said on Saturday morning. \u201cI think it was 10-0, and he\u2019s still playing really hard the other night. I thought that was very good to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the 2024 NHL Draft\u2019s<\/a>\u00a011th overall pick has shown growth in training camp, he hasn\u2019t separated himself enough to escape a position battle. Dickinson started training<\/a> camp with Jacob Trouba<\/a> as his defense partner. Going into Saturday\u2019s preseason finale, that has changed. Allan has taken his place next to Trouba. That pairing was solid in the San Jose Sharks\u2019 10-0 win on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Cagnoni and prospect d-man Eric Pohlkamp<\/a> won\u2019t be in the lineup on Saturday, while both Allan and Dickinson are. Dickinson is paired with Dmitry Orlov<\/a> on Saturday. Orlov has been paired with Cagnoni throughout camp. <\/p>\n

#SJSharks<\/a> lines at morning skate:
Marchment-Celebrini-Smith
Chernyshov-Misa-Toffoli
Stenberg-Wennberg-Graf
Goodrow-Ostapchuk-Sherwood
Dellandrea-Leason<\/p>\n

Nurse-Kesselring
Allan-Trouba
Dickinson-Orlov
Cagnoni-Pohlkamp<\/p>\n

\u2014 Max Miller (@Real_Max_Miller) September 26, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

As roster decisions come down to the wire, the Sharks will likely look at players who are and aren\u2019t waiver-eligible. Of the three defensemen in a competition, Dickinson, Allan, and Pohlkamp, only Allan is waiver-eligible. Cagnoni isn\u2019t eligible, but SHD projects him as a near-lock for opening night.<\/p>\n

Dickinson could be sent down to the AHL to play a bigger role than he would on the Sharks. He\u2019d likely get top power-play time, something he\u2019s never done with the Sharks. He\u2019d be on the top pair as well, likely with Pohlkamp if he\u2019s sent down too. But if Pohlkamp goes down, Dickinson likely stays in the NHL.<\/p>\n

Pohlkamp has played one professional hockey game in his career. The San Jose Sharks have shown patience with defensemen in the past. A perfect example is Cagnoni. Despite two very strong training camps, he was sent back to the AHL both times for more seasoning. Now that seasoning appears to have worked. Cagnoni looks like he\u2019s an established NHL-quality player. Pohlkamp also needs to play and get top PP time, which he\u2019ll do with the \u2018Cuda if he\u2019s there.<\/p>\n

That leaves Dickinson and Allan for the No. 6 and 7 spots on the blue line. Saturday\u2019s game is a big test for Dickinson to prove he\u2019s taken a step toward staying in the lineup. When asked what the Sharks might be thinking for their opening-night lineup, Warsofsky didn\u2019t show his hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, we\u2019ll see. Again, it\u2019s a few days away,\u201d Warsofsky said.<\/p>\n

With a near-NHL lineup<\/a> being dressed on both sides, the front office can get the most accurate evaluation of Dickinson and Allan. SHD believes Cagnoni and Pohlkamp are scratches because their fate is set. Anything can happen, so nothing is set in stone until the official roster is submitted by 5 p.m. ET on Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the regular season rapidly approaching, the San Jose Sharks will soon be forced to make some tough…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[3523,3521,65313,186539,1036,1037,88,90,89,98,42180,755],"class_list":["post-476947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-eric-pohlkamp","tag-luca-cagnoni","tag-nolan-allan","tag-roster-cuts","tag-ryan-warsofsky","tag-sam-dickinson","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sharks-training-camp","tag-sj-sharks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}