SAN JOSE – The Sharks’ decision on whether to keep Sam Dickinson on the roster past this month is imminent, as the rookie defenseman will play his ninth game of the season on Thursday when San Jose plays the New Jersey Devils at SAP Center.
If the Sharks play Dickinson in a 10th game this season, the first year of his entry-level contract will begin. Dickinson will then have to be on the Sharks’ roster for 40 games before he can accrue a year toward unrestricted free agency.
If the Sharks decide not to keep Dickinson, he would be loaned back to his major junior team, the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League.
After Thursday, the Sharks host the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday and the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday to finish their four-game homestand.
Dickinson, 19, has played eight of the Sharks’ 10 games so far this season and has averaged just over 14 minutes of ice time. While he is still looking for his first NHL point, he does have positive underlying numbers — with a Corsi-for percentage of 52.46, per Natural Stat Trick –– as he’s played mainly on the Sharks’ third defense pair.
“We’re going to see how engaged he is,” said Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky, who reiterated Thursday that the team has not finalized a decision on Dickinson. “Is he executing the breakouts. Is he executing our structure? Is the pace suitable from him from the start of the game to the finish of the game? How many times is there a dip in his game?
“Again, there’s going to be mistakes, but are we seeing less and less of those mistakes?
Dickinson said Thursday morning that general manager Mike Grier hasn’t informed him whether he will be staying in San Jose or going back to London.
“Just continue to get more confident with the puck and in my abilities,” Dickinson told Bay Area News Group on Thursday. “I think it’s been a step in the right direction every game, and I have to look to continue to build on that, just being more confident in the offensive zone, to make a play defensively, closing plays, and on breakouts, getting the puck out, and (joining) the offense.”
“He’s done some good things,” Warsofsky said of Dickinson. “You see the potential. You see that he’s going to be a really good National Hockey League defenseman. So we’ll get to that decision at some point.”
Dickinson will play alongside Shakir Mukhamadullin, who came off injured reserve Thursday morning. Mukhamadullin, a first-round draft pick by the Devils in 2020, hasn’t played since the Sharks’ season-opener on Oct. 9.
Mukhamadullin was a healthy scratch for the next two Sharks games against the Carolina Hurricanes and Utah Mammoth, then was injured during a practice before the team left for its four-game road trip.
“There will be some moments where he’ll have to get the rust off a little bit, but we feel pretty comfortable with the way he’s looked and worked to get back from this injury here,” Warsofsky said. “Big guy with some length, so we’re excited to get him back in there.”
To make room for Mukhamahdullin on the active roster, the Sharks placed Adam Gaudette on IR. Gaudette sustained an upper-body injury in the Sharks’ game against the Minnesota Wild on Sunday and is expected to miss at least another week.
Sharks rookie center Michael Misa, who has played in six NHL games this season, will be a healthy scratch against the Devils. Patrick Giles, who was recalled from the Barracuda earlier this week, will center the Sharks’ fourth line with Ryan Reaves and Barclay Goodrow on the wings.
Misa has three points in his last four games. Against the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday, Misa had eight shots on goal in just over 10 minutes of ice time, although three of those shots came during one 30-second flurry early in the second period and four more came in a rapid-fire sequence midway through the third.