Sharks
Sharks · Player

Sam Dickinson

Sam Dickinson
Pine card · 2025-26

-1.1

Pine Net Rating v0.1: goals above replacement per 82 games (-1.0 over his 72). 42% among 250 defensemen, 2nd pair.

Position
D
Number
#6
Shoots
L
Age
20
Size
6'3", 200 lb
Ice time
16:45 a game
Games
72
Status
Under contract (ELC)
Pieces here
57

2025-26 regular season: 72 games, 1206 minutes.

Net rating, split
Offense plus defense, in goals per 82 games, against a replacement-level player at his position. Built from public components; the method names every constant. Team sums track goal differential at r = 0.632 across 32 clubs.
Netall situations
-1.142%
Offenseall situations
+3.757%
Defenseall situations
-4.835%
Projected net rating
Per 82 games. Solid: rated seasons on file (1). Dotted: the forecast along the league aging curve for his position; the band is the 10th to 90th percentile of outcomes, and it widens because each year adds its own uncertainty. Baseline +0.4 from 1 recent season, shrunk 50% of the way toward the league defenseman mean.
-30-20-10+0+10+20+30+40+50-1+2+4+6+6+72025-262026-272027-282028-292029-302030-31-30-20-10+0+10+20+30+40+50-1+2+4+6+6+72025-262027-282029-302030-31

2026-27: +2.5 (range -12.6 to +17.5). 2030-31: +6.7 (range -28.0 to +41.4).

Value v0.1
Market value
$3.5M
Cap hit
$942K
Surplus
+$2.558M
Positive value
90%

Market value is what the league pays a defenseman at his rating percentile this season, from 214 contracts; in 2026-27 dollars against a $104M ceiling. Positive value is the share of 2,000 simulated futures over his 2 remaining years in which that value meets his cap hit.

The number on each bar is his percentile among league defensemen with 200 or more minutes at 5-on-5 (special teams: 30 or more minutes on the unit); each block prints the size of that group. Higher is better on every bar; chances against are inverted so 90% always reads well.

Individual offense
percentile among 250 defensemen
Goalsall situations
119%
Assistsall situations
1349%
Pointsall situations
1442%
Expected goalsall situations
4.560%
Individual defense
percentile among 250 defensemen
Blocked shotsall situations
7038%
Penalties drawn minus takenall situations
-642%
On the ice, offense
percentile among 250 defensemen
Chances for, per 605-on-5
2.4144%
Chance share, on ice minus off5-on-5
+0.154%
Power play chances for, per 60power play, 22 min
rank withheld: under 30 minutes on the unit
2.81n/a
On the ice, defense
percentile among 189 to 250 defensemen
Chances against, per 605-on-5
2.6529%
Penalty kill chances against, per 60penalty kill, 64 min
7.7633%
Difficulty not measured. Quality of competition and teammates has no free public source this pipe can reach (Natural Stat Trick blocks scripts); Court chose no paid source on 2026-09-12.
Contract $942K cap hit · 2 years left · RFA July 2028. PuckPedia and CapWages, via the cap sheet.

Sources: NHL.com for the roster, bio and counting line; MoneyPuck for expected goals, on-ice chances, blocks and penalties; PuckPedia and CapWages for the contract. Updated 2026-09-13. The rating, the forecast and the value line are this site's own, from public data, with the method published.

On the record

Called Shots →
OpenJul 28, 2026

Luca Cagnoni plays fewer than 42 regular-season games for the San Jose Sharks in 2026-27. Scored off his official NHL regular-season games-played total for San Jose only: 41 or fewer is a hit, 42 or more is a miss, including if he reaches 42 after being recalled from the Barracuda, and including if he is traded (games for another club do not count).

OpenAug 8, 2026

Sam Dickinson finishes the 2026-27 NHL regular season with a LOWER even-strength offensive zone start percentage (oZS%) than Darnell Nurse. Scored off Hockey Reference's 2026-27 San Jose Sharks team page, Advanced Stats table, oZS% column, both men read from the same table on the same day. Dickinson strictly lower is a hit; equal or higher is a miss. If either man plays fewer than 20 regular-season games for San Jose, the row is unresolvable rather than a miss.

OpenAug 30, 2026

Jacob Trouba has the highest shorthanded ice time per game of any San Jose defenseman across the club's first 20 games of 2026-27.

OpenSep 2, 2026

Eric Pohlkamp plays 10 or more NHL regular-season games for San Jose in 2026-27.

OpenSep 3, 2026

Luca Cagnoni averages under 0:30 a game of shorthanded time on ice across San Jose's first 20 games of 2026-27.

OpenSep 5, 2026

Mason Marchment finishes the 2026-27 regular season with an even-strength offensive zone start share below 60 percent for San Jose.

OpenSep 10, 2026

Sam Dickinson averages more time on ice per game than Darnell Nurse across San Jose's first 20 games of 2026-27.

OpenSep 12, 2026

Ivar Stenberg appears in 11 or more of San Jose's first 13 regular-season games in 2026-27.

OpenSep 13, 2026

Sam Dickinson averages 1:00 or more of power-play time per game across San Jose's first 20 games of 2026-27.

Written about him

Season preview

Sam Dickinson Was Better Against The Best Forwards He Faced Than Against The Worst Ones

PuckIQ's WoodMoney model splits even-strength ice time by the quality of the opposition. Sam Dickinson spent 23.2 percent of his against elite forwards last season, against 39.0 percent for Mario Ferraro and 35.3 for Dmitry Orlov, and San Jose outscored the opponent 15 to 11 in those 220.7 minutes. In the 385.1 minutes he played against the softest tier, San Jose was outscored 19 to 12. He is signed at $953,750 on a blue line carrying $17,500,000 of Darnell Nurse and Jacob Trouba.

Dom CahillSep 13, 20265 min read
Sam Dickinson Was Better Against The Best Forwards He Faced Than Against The Worst Ones
Season preview

Edmonton Spent Six Seasons Taking Ice Time Away From Darnell Nurse

Edmonton cut Darnell Nurse's power-play time by 75 percent in his final season there, from 77 minutes and 53 seconds to 19 minutes and 24 seconds, and his total ice time fell to 20:58, the lowest of his last nine seasons. Sam Dickinson, a 19-year-old rookie, took more power-play time per game for San Jose than Nurse took for Edmonton. San Jose owns the contract until 2030 and cannot move it this season.

Dom CahillSep 10, 20265 min read
Edmonton Spent Six Seasons Taking Ice Time Away From Darnell Nurse
Sharks prospect desk

San Jose Drew Its Rookie Line At One Hundred Games And Then Crossed It Once

San Jose released its 2026 Rookie Faceoff roster on September 1: 14 forwards, nine defensemen, three goaltenders. Curtis Pashelka of the Mercury News reports the club's participation guideline is 100 or fewer combined NHL and AHL regular-season games, and that Luca Cagnoni is over it at 140. Sorted by that number, 14 of the 26 named have never played a professional regular-season game, and only Filip Bystedt at 123 is above the line. Sam Dickinson is under it at 72 and is not going either. Five of the nine defensemen invited shoot right, on a club whose established blue line carries two right shots.

Dom CahillSep 2, 20266 min read
San Jose Drew Its Rookie Line At One Hundred Games And Then Crossed It Once
Deployment

Sort San Jose's Blue Line By Zone Starts And Sam Dickinson Is At The Bottom

Six defensemen are signed for 2026-27. Ranked by last season's even-strength offensive zone start rate, the least sheltered of them is Sam Dickinson, who was 19 and playing his first NHL season. The four men who actually absorbed San Jose's defensive-zone faceoffs are all off the roster.

Dom CahillAug 9, 20266 min read
Sort San Jose's Blue Line By Zone Starts And Sam Dickinson Is At The Bottom
Sharks player desk

Sam Dickinson, year two: the rookie line that hid his best trait, and the leap that comes when the leash drops

Sam Dickinson's sophomore leap, and why his rookie stats lied about him

Grab Some PineJun 19, 20265 min read
Sam Dickinson, year two: the rookie line that hid his best trait, and the leap that comes when the leash drops
Sharks film room

Sam Dickinson vs Artyom Levshunov: who is the better prospect right now?

Sam Dickinson vs Artyom Levshunov: who is the better prospect right now?

Grab Some PineJun 5, 20264 min read
Sam Dickinson vs Artyom Levshunov: who is the better prospect right now?
Sharks film room

Was Dickinson sheltered? The competition data is in, and the answer splits

Sam Dickinson, the shelter question: now with the part I was missing

Grab Some PineJun 5, 20264 min read
Was Dickinson sheltered? The competition data is in, and the answer splits

Also appears in

Pohlkamp scored 97 seconds in, and he has played one professional game

Sep 22, 2026

San Jose lost 6-2, and both of its goals came from men with no NHL games

Sep 21, 2026

Only two clubs in hockey ran two power-play point men, and San Jose was one

Sep 20, 2026

San Jose extended Warsofsky before the season that was supposed to judge him

Sep 17, 2026

San Jose's preseason is seven days long. Last September's was fourteen.

Sep 16, 2026

The Ice Time Michael Misa Is Missing Is Mostly Not Even Strength

Sep 14, 2026

Ivar Stenberg And His Brother Scored One Goal And Two Assists Each In Their First Season Against Swedish Men

Sep 12, 2026

San Jose Lost Eighty Four Percent Of Its Penalty Kill And Replaced It With Jacob Trouba

Sep 11, 2026

San Jose Needs Sixty Six Goals And Its Goaltender Can Find Half Of Them

Sep 9, 2026

Michael Kesselring Went From Seventy Power Play Minutes To Two Seconds In One Season

Sep 7, 2026

Luca Cagnoni Got Two Minutes Forty Seven A Night On San Jose's Power Play And Nothing At All On Its Kill

Sep 3, 2026

Almost Half Of Dmitry Orlov's Points Came On A Power Play He Is Projected To Lose

Sep 2, 2026

San Jose Can Lose Nolan Allan For Nothing, Which Is Exactly Why He Will Make The Team

Aug 31, 2026

San Jose Allowed 290 Goals. The Answer Was To Replace Seven Defensemen.

Aug 30, 2026

San Jose Has Four Preseason Games And Nineteen Men Who Can Play Two Of Them

Aug 21, 2026

The Open Job On San Jose's Power Play Is Not The One Luca Cagnoni Is Being Given

Aug 19, 2026

Every Sharks Point Total Is Reasonable Until You Add Them Up

Aug 14, 2026

Everybody Signed The Same Lease. The Rent Ran From $7.2 Million To $18.8 Million.

Aug 5, 2026

Grier Says The Blue Line Is A Runway. Count The Spots.

Jul 28, 2026

Mike Grier Bought The House

Jul 24, 2026

'By A Massive Margin': Auditing Hockey's Loudest Pipeline Claim

Jul 23, 2026

Jacob Trouba and the reputation premium

Jul 1, 2026

Grier pays the minimum tab and guards the window: my July 1 forecast

Jun 30, 2026

Sharks top 20 Calder-eligible prospects: Pohlkamp belongs near the top, and two dark horses lurk

Jun 27, 2026

Top 5 free-agent D to target: Andersson is the prize, and the right-shot well is shallow behind him

Jun 25, 2026

The forecast, redone: Stenberg is an NHL player, and it changes the picture

Jun 24, 2026

Chase Reid, scouted as a player: the NAHL-to-No.2 climb, the comps stress-tested, and when he actually helps

Jun 19, 2026

The Cagnoni readiness study: a 43-point AHL puck-mover, a 5-foot-9 question, and the cheapest way to solve the left side

Jun 19, 2026

Kesselring deep dive, the NHL Edge layer: elite tools confirmed, and one correction

Jun 18, 2026

The Michael Kesselring deep dive: the 0-2-2 that lies, and the top-four defenseman underneath it

Jun 18, 2026

The blue-line logjam: why the pipeline is all left-handed, and why that makes Reid non-negotiable

Jun 14, 2026

The power-play blueprint: the chances were already there, the finish wasn't (the easy 5 points)

Jun 14, 2026

The Grier report card: four years graded, one pattern found, and what it predicts for June 27

Jun 12, 2026

The Toffoli decision: when hold flips to sell, decided nine months before it's urgent

Jun 12, 2026

The Warsofsky file: elite developer, suspect allocator, and the year-three test already written

Jun 12, 2026

Pricing the Celebrini extension: the number, the deadline nobody is talking about, and what every dollar costs the core

Jun 11, 2026

The 2026-27 scorecard, written in June (v2): the goalposts are now in concrete

Jun 11, 2026

The five-year cap math: can they keep everyone? (The Florida-or-Chicago question, answered)

Jun 11, 2026

Collin Graf, and the contract you sign before everyone else does the math

Jun 11, 2026

The Misa verdict: the 2C is earned, not hoped, except for one thing at the dot

Jun 11, 2026

The trade chessboard: what every chip is worth, and what the plan actually costs

Jun 10, 2026

Are the 2026-27 Sharks actually a playoff team? The number, and the honest yes/no

Jun 9, 2026

Igor Chernyshov and the only real argument in the forward group

Jun 9, 2026

The contention clock: when the window actually opens, and the gap list to get there

Jun 9, 2026

The honest value board: who actually drove value in 2025-26

Jun 9, 2026

Was Ferraro actually good at killing penalties? No, and you were right to ask

Jun 9, 2026

If Ferraro was only average, why was the PK 28th? It was the forward kill (and I owe you a correction)

Jun 9, 2026

The 2026-27 forward group: four lines to compete now and grow into a contender

Jun 7, 2026

The 2026-27 blue line, built: draft the right shot, rent the right shots, free the kids

Jun 6, 2026

The PP1 you can actually ice next year, and where it finishes

Jun 3, 2026