Sam Dickinson will make his NHL debut on Saturday night.

And no, it wasn’t at owner Hasso Plattner‘s request.

Dickinson, the San Jose Sharks’ 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’ll face the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday, perhaps next to Dmitry Orlov, who he was paired with at practice on Friday.

“It’ll be pretty cool, obviously, a home game and and everything like that,” Dickinson said. “[It] seems like it’s everything I’ve been been working towards, and every kid who plays hockey’s dream. It’ll be a really special day.”

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’s game.

“My dad, he’s been my No. 1 fan since I started playing hockey. He’d 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,” said the top San Jose Sharks prospect said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever told him, but there’s no way I’ll ever be able to repay him. Same thing with my mom. She’s probably my No. 1 supporter in terms of, I don’t think she’s ever told me about a bad game, and she’s always there to kind of pick me up if I’m feeling down. It’ll definitely mean a lot to them, and a lot more to me, knowing that they’re here.”

Many, including Plattner, were disappointed by the news that Dickinson was sitting out of the Sharks’ first game of the 2025-26 season.

“It’s pretty cool to have the kind of belief from him,” Dickinson said of the San Jose Sharks owner, who he chatted with on Thursday. “[It] definitely means a lot.”

Even though Dickinson wasn’t on the ice on Thursday, he still learned a lot from being around the team during the season opener.

“That was the first game that I got to see up close like that,” he stated. “[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.”

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.

“You could see yesterday that there’s a lot of juice for this season and excitement around so just to be a little part of that’s pretty cool,” he said. “Seeing that, I definitely think the excitement’s there and just brings even a little more.”

And now, it’s the 2025 CHL Defenseman of the Year’s turn to bring the excitement.

Sam Dickinson says he’s still living in a hotel right now. That may change at some point here.

— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) October 10, 2025