Dallas Stars Prospect Update: Jason Dickinson is not long for the AHL

Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill is a man that understands the importance of depth.

On the positive side, this means that his club has options and is ready when injuries hit. (Unless the injuries hit all at once like as a tsunami, as they did for the Stars last year, but let’s not talk about that.)

On the negative side, this means that some young players might have to wait in the minors for their chance to come up to Dallas full time, even if they’re already ready for The Show.

This is the case with center Jason Dickinson.

Dickinson, 22 and in his third year of pro, is the hottest player on the AHL’s Texas Stars right now, with four goals and an assist in four games. Texas split a win and a loss against the San Diego Gulls over the weekend, with Dickinson scoring the only Texas goal in Saturday’s 5-1 defeat.

The smart, skilled, versatile two-way forward has 11 games of NHL experience under his belt and didn’t look out of place in those games, so it’s fair to assume that he’s only even more ready now.

He’ll need to keep waiting for his next shot, which could come at any time. One thing that you can be sure on, though, is that he’ll be ready when that times does come.

AHL

Roope Hintz continues to look right at home in North America. He picked up his second goal of the season in Friday’s 3-1 Texas win. Video highlights from that game can be found here.

Europe

Finland

Miro Heiskanen picked up another goal for HIFK in the Liiga, and also logged 21:19 of ice time in his team’s 5-2 win.

Sweden

Puck-moving defender Jakob Stenqvist picked up three assists over three games, bringing his total to seven helpers in nine games for Bjorkloven in the Allsvenskan league. The 19-year-old has become a staple on his team’s powerplay, where most of his production is coming from. Video of two of his assists can be found here.

Jacob Peterson, Dallas’ 5th round selection in the 2017 draft, got another brief call-up to Frolunda in the SHL, but only clocked 46 seconds of playing time. He has 11 points in 12 games in Sweden’s under-20 league.

Fredrik Karlstrom is still trying to adjust to his new team and find the scoresheet, as he’s gone pointless through his first 10 games of this season.

North American Juniors

OHL

Jason Robertson picked up a goal and two assists over three games. He broke the ankles of the opposing goalie with his goal, which is an absolute must-see here.

Nick Caamano also picked up a goal and two assists over the week, bringing his totals to nine points in nine games. Video of a two-assist outing can be found here.

WHL

Ondrej Vala picked up a goal and assist as his Kamloops Blazers club finally picked up their first win of the season. The hulking Czech defender now has six points in 11 games and continues to play a ton of minutes for his squad.

NCAA

Rhett Gardner is off to a nice start in his third year with the University of North Dakota, with three points in four games. Former teammates Tyson Jost and Brock Boeser turned pro and are now in the NHL, so it’s expected that Gardner will play a bigger role this season for his team.

Jake Oettinger dropped both decision he played in over the weekend. He stopped 39 out of 45 shots on Friday night in a 6-3 Boston University loss, and then 25 out of 28 shots on Saturday as his team got blanked 3-0.

Colton Point did not play in either game for Colgate this past weekend, although it’s not clear why. Some searching online didn’t pull up any information. Hopefully whatever the reason is it doesn’t keep him out of action for long.

2018 NHL Draft Watch

The 2018 draft looks like it’s going to be overflowing with elite defensemen - Rasmus Dahlin, Ty Smith and Adam Boqvist among them - but one blueliner that is probably going to climb a lot of rankings is Noah Dobson from the QMJHL’s Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

Dobson is a 6’2” right-shot defender that plays both ends of the ice. He plays with a lot of composure and has a big shot from the point that he loves to use. He’s picked up 11 assists in 11 games so far this season for the Titan.

There are elements of his game that still need to be ironed out, but he has the potential to be a true #1 defender at the NHL level.