Sam Dickinson wants a larger role on the San Jose Sharks.
We’ll see if the 19-year-old is ready for it next season.
The No. 11 pick of the 2024 Draft performed admirably on a playoff contender as a teenager, logging 16:45 a night, notching a goal and 14 points in 72 games.
Dickinson had his highs and lows this season, but most importantly, he was still standing in the end, and was getting better.
In his exit interview last week, Dickinson talked about his risque choice for a cap, how he’s going to get better this summer, and more.
Sam Dickinson, on what was special about this San Jose Sharks team, their mix of young and old, this season:
It’s hard to really just pick one thing that they did. We just had such a great mix of older veterans to combine with the young guys that we had. They just made it so easy to come into the rink every day and have fun and get better at the same time.
We were all pushed to get better. I think, realistically, it went both ways. At times we pushed them, but they certainly pushed us to get better every day. It’s really nice to see how much you know they wanted us to get better, as well as the team. They all put a lot of time and effort into not only working on their games, but at the same time, helping all of us at the same time. I’ll definitely be very grateful to all those guys for—especially coming in my first year—and making it as easy as it sometimes felt. When it was definitely a difficult year at times.
Just to come in every day and know that I had however many guys we had up here—25 or however many it was—at the time I was coming in, there were many other guys who had my back and were working for me as well.
Dickinson, on what he learned about professionalism from those who weren’t in the line-up as much, like Nick Leddy and John Klingberg:
I mean, those are probably two of just the best human beings there are. Away from hockey, they’re just two of the best guys around. I don’t think you could find—not only a guy on this team, but a guy who’s ever played with one of them—who’s got a bad thing to say about them.
They come in every day with that same positive attitude. You could still go up to them and have a conversation about anything at any time. It didn’t matter if they were in the lineup, not in the lineup, they wanted to be here, they wanted to have fun. I think that’s one thing that made our team, our group, and our culture so special.
Dickinson, on if he felt they were excited for his development:
Yeah, I’d like to say so. I think those two guys, I think especially with them too, I gravitated to them pretty quickly. Obviously, you think of the two of them, and their careers that they’ve had and the success that they’ve had. It was pretty cool coming in just knowing I was going to get to be on the ice with them and learn from them as much as I could. They were so great to me, teaching me as much as they could. Every time I had a question, they gave me a great answer. Every time they had something to say to me, I was all ears and excited that they would even want to talk to me and help me out as much as they could.
Dickinson, on his cap:
Actually I had one a while ago. This is actually my brother’s, and he left it here. I couldn’t find a hat this morning when I was leaving, and my mom threw it to me and I put it on. I guess there’s maybe, like, a secondary meaning to it. I won’t say what.
Dickinson, on what he wants to work on this summer:
It’s a huge off-season for me. I think because it’s not only for me going into my second year, but it’ll be my first off-season in a while, where it feels like I’m not finally getting back into the gym in July, where I haven’t played for so long.
It’ll be a mix of understanding how long to take off before getting back to it. I think it’s a little bit of everything. I did just talk to the strength guys, so I know exactly what they want me to do.
It’s just making sure that come day one of training camp next year, I’m ready to go. No tip toeing into it, take a cannonball into the pool, as they say, and just kind of be ready conditioning-wise, just be in the best shape that I can be. Get stronger.
I think the summer going from 19 to 20 is probably pretty big, just naturally for everybody. I’ll kind of take that and at the same time, when I’m in the gym, just put my head down and go to work like I always have.
Dickinson, on whether he’d like to put more weight on:
No, I think I’m pretty happy with my weight. I think through the year, have been around the 205 to 210 range. I think having a little more weight is always good at this level. There’s guys who are going to be a lot bigger than I am always, so I mean, having that extra couple pounds is probably pretty big to be able to win a battle, but at the same time understanding there’s a fine balance between that and also making sure that I’m not losing a step speed-wise, or anything like that. Definitely something to keep an eye on, but something that will definitely come with time understanding my body.
Dickinson, on how he feels he adapted to the NHL’s pace:
One of the things I said when I first got here was sometimes it wasn’t necessarily the pace of the players, but it’s how fast the puck’s moving, how fast guys are thinking. You look one way, and guys have made three passes to a backdoor and it’s in the net.
I think, in that sense, just making sure that my mind was ready and my mind was working fast enough to keep up with the game was big and definitely something that I’ll try to continue to work on this summer, as well as the rest of the pace stuff that comes with this game.
Dickinson, on a potential plan for Men’s Worlds:
I have no idea. Beats me.
Dickinson, on his hardest challenge adjusting to the NHL:
I think, like I said, the pace of not only how fast guys move here, but how fast plays happen, how fast they occur, how fast the puck moves. It’s at a whole different level than anywhere else. There’s really no way you can sort of prepare for it. You can do as much as you can, but day one, you get in here and it kind of turns into a different beast. Like I’ve said a little bit, it’s an exciting challenge that I had through the whole season, and it’s an exciting challenge that I’ll continue to fight with and use to get better through, hopefully, the rest of my career.
Dickinson, on whether he was impressed with how he adjusted:
I mean, it’s hard to say that I’m not pretty happy and proud of myself with how this first season went. I understood coming in there was going to be a lot of work to be done [to] be a shoo-in guy and a guy who can play every night in his first year. To have that through that second half of the year was a big confidence boost to know that the coaches trust me to be in the lineup every night, and as the season went on to take on a bigger role, get more minutes, get some more high pressure situations as well. It’s definitely great for my confidence and the kind of thing that I’ll look to take now and keep with me through the summer, and then, again, when we get back here for September.
Dickinson, on whether he sees himself as a top-four defenseman for the San Jose Sharks next year:
I mean, my confidence and my belief in myself has always been sky-high, so I’d like to.
See the full interview here