Dickinson had 70 points in 68 games this season for the OHL Champion London Knights.
A week from Friday, when the Ottawa Senators make their first pick at the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas, it's hard to say who will be the best player available at 7th overall. However, most analysts agree that London Knights defenceman Sam Dickinson is as good a bet as anyone.
Dickinson is well aware of that, so when it was the Senators' turn to interview him at the combine earlier this month, he told TSN's Mark Masters he wanted to put his best foot forward for that meeting.
"That (interview) was a little more intense knowing that, obviously, there's been some talks about me, at the end of the day, heading to Ottawa... So, it was definitely one that I was looking forward to and I wanted to show my best and impress in that interview. And I think it went really well."
The 6-foot-3, 204-pound left-shot defenceman told TSN that if Ottawa drafts him, he likes the idea of being close to Toronto, his hometown. He says he was also impressed with the Sens organization as a whole.
"A great organization, Canadian market, and unbelievable fans. And after meeting the general manager and the front office at the scouting combine, it's obviously a very well run organization. And it would be an absolute honour to go there."
When asked about his game, Dickinson, who just turned 18, had an extremely confident answer.
"The big thing for me is just the completeness of my game," Dickinson said. "A lot of really special defencemen in this draft, but I don't think there's a guy that kind of has everything that I have from the offence, the defence, my size and my skating ability."
Round one of the NHL Draft is June 28th.