BLOG: Dickinson Finding More Trust this Season in Himself, Linemates

In his second season with the Chicago Blackhawks, Jason Dickinson continues to find his game as he posted career high numbers before the team entered the NHL holiday break. 

With his most recent success on the offensive side, the 28-year-old forward noticed that his game started to increase with a more consistent playing style but also the trust in his own game and linemates. 

“Everybody out there with me is working out well that I can make reads that maybe I wasn't normally making,” Dickinson said. “It stems from trust from the coaches, trust in linemates and then trusting myself.” 

This season, Dickinson notched a career-high 11 goals to bring his point total to 16 through 34 games. However, head coach Luke Richardson felt that the Canadian forward became a more complete player after his dominant play last year.

The Blackhawks acquired Dickinson in a trade from Vancouver back in Oct. 2022 in exchange for Riley Stillman and in his first season with Chicago, he scored a career-high 30 points (9G, 21A). While he played a more defensive style and went against some of the top lines in the leagues, Richardson watched him produce some top goals this season, provide pivotal face-off wins and grow into a more important role on the team. 

“His primary role is checking the opponent's best line, and he's doing that with great stats,” Richardson said. “He's a plus player, and he's scoring goals.” 

As for the Ontario native, he didn’t feel too much of a difference in his play compared to last season. 

The only changes he added to his game include his shooting accuracy and finding those chances in scoring areas. 

“I feel like I'm still doing the same little things getting above pucks, forechecking hard and it just seems that when I'm getting the pucks in scoring areas, I'm putting them in the net,” Dickinson said. 

In the last few weeks, Dickinson found his chemistry on the third line with Nick Foligno and Joey Anderson but continued to find his stride after some recent shakeups. Since then, he knew he would not have the same success without the help of his linemates. 

“The job that we do as a line typically is never done by one guy,” Dickinson said “Line matching is hard and playing the defensive side of the puck is really hard and without great linemates to help you do it, it could be an impossible task.”