Continuing the Minnesota Wild Draft Target series with London Knights' defenseman Sam Dickinson.
Continuing the Minnesota Wild Draft Target series with London Knights' defenseman Sam Dickinson.
Continuing the Minnesota Wild Draft Target series, today we look at London Knights' defenseman Sam Dickinson.
We have already talked about three different defensemen the Wild could take with pick No. 13 but today we will talk about one more. Dickinson is the last defensemen in this draft that could go top 15-20.
Currently playing for the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League, Dickinson had 18 goals, 52 assists, and 70 points in 68 regular season games for the Knights.
He has four goals and 13 points in 18 playoff games for the Knights who won the OHL Championship and are now competing for the Memorial Cup. The 6-foot-3 defender is currently projected as a top ten pick in the upcoming draft according to Tony Ferrari and Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News.
Dickinson is a really good skater. He is one of the better skating defenders in the Draft and being 6-foot-3 that's a plus. He has been really responsible defensively and keeps improving his offensive game.
Right now, Dickinson projects to be a top-four defenseman in the NHL. He shoots left, which is a strength of the Wild so maybe they shy away from him in that aspect considering their are a few right shot defensemen that could be there at pick 13 like Carter Yakemchuk or Zayne Parekh.
Most of Dickinson's offense seems to be created based off his skating but his shot and puck skills are a great as well. He seems to be on pace to become a solid two-way defenseman in the NHL who could quarterback a team's power play unit.
As you can see on the image above from Hockey Prospecting, Dickinson has the same Star and NHLer probabilities as Bowen Byram did in his draft year. Their production was about the same despite playing in different leagues.
I think a comparison to either Buffalo's Byram or Vegas' Noah Hanifin would be a fair assessment of what Dickinson could become in the NHL. Both are solid defensively with offensive potential and are two players every NHL team would love to build around.
Dickinson is that type of guy as well. Although I think he will be taken before pick No. 13, he wouldn't be a bad guy for the Wild to take if he is still available. Only tough thing is the abundance of left shot defensive prospects the Wild already have.
You can never have enough defensemen though and if the Wild's draft strategy is to take the best available player then Dickinson would likely be the selection if he would be there at 13.
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