Jason Dickinson Storms into NHL draft conversation
By Dan Girad, Toronto Star
Storm head coach Scott Walker admits a couple of times this season he’s glanced over as forward Jason Dickinson arrives at the rink clad in a track suit, a big grin on his baby face, and wondered if he’s the stick boy.
Any lingering doubts are erased when the 17-year-old steps onto the ice.
“The best part about this kid is that his upside is endless,” Walker says of Dickinson, a highly-touted 6-foot-2, 176-pound Orangeville, Ont., native. “He’s not going to shave until he’s 35 and he’s still got a million miles to go in filling out.
“They (opponents) have trouble getting the puck off him now. What are they going to do when he’s 200 or 210 pounds?”
Dickinson, a graduate of the AAA Halton Hurricanes minor hockey program, went through the typical 16-year-old OHL rookie adjustment last season, notching just one goal and six assists in his first 25 games.
But by Christmas he was earning lots of minutes and in the playoffs, Dickinson centred the first or second line as the Storm fell in six games in the opening round to the Plymouth Whalers, who tied for second overall.
Dickinson was named to the OHL second all-rookie team after 35 points in 63 games and, so far this season, has picked up right where he left off.
“My confidence has sky-rocketed to a whole other level,” says Dickinson, a potential first-round pick in June’s NHL entry draft, according to a preliminary list from NHL Central Scouting. “Coming off such a strong season last year I really feel comfortable in this league and that I can make a difference.”
