BLOG: Dickinson Looking Forward to Chicago Debut Eight Days After Trade

After being acquired in a trade from the Vancouver Canucks on Oct. 7, Jason Dickinson joined the Blackhawks ahead of their final game of the West Coast trip against the Sharks in San Jose. Dickinson joined the team later than expected due to immigration offices being closed over the weekend causing a delay in the process.
The 27-year-old forward stated that he has had a lot of information to process trying to learn a whole new system within a day of joining the team. However, knowing current teammates Mackenzie Entwistle and Max Domi has made the transition easier.
"So far it's been a lot of information, a lot of learning but it's been good so far," Dickinson said. "Guys have been super welcoming, super friendly and it's nice having a couple of familiar faces to lean on."

Dickinson dressed in 62 games for the Canucks and tallied a total of 11 points (5G, 6A) last season. In his first game with the Blackhawks, he'll center the line with Sam Lafferty and Philipp Kurashev on the wings.
It's not unusual for players to join new teams during different points of the season as head coach Luke Richardson described. For him, he believes that Dickinson will adjust to the new system and find his spot on the team while using him on the penalty kill.
"That's normal," Richardson said. "You give him a ballpark of what we're looking for and I think he'll fit in well. He's a big body and he skates well. The guy can play probably any position up front and help out with the penalty kill because he'll be aggressive up ice. I think he'll give us another dimension on that as well."

During those few days, he tried to learn the team's system on his own by watching the first two games against the Avalanche and the Golden Knights. For him, he described the difficulty of trying to stay prepared after the unexpected set back.
"You sit there and you try to prepare as best you can to stay in shape and stick with the things that I had been doing because I've been ramping up for the start of the season," Dickinson said. "Then, it kind of came to a screeching halt."
He views his role as being more assertive on the forecheck. His goal this season is to perform better under pressure and become more of what he described as a 'Swiss knife' where he was able to execute the duties asked by his coaches in Dallas.
"I was able to just shut off and not think, just play," Dickinson said. "It's all I got to do. Especially in the game like tonight for me. It's a lot of information coming my way, so I just have to go back to playing hockey. Simple as that."

If he is able to overcome the new adjustment and pressure, he feels he can be the tenacious penalty killer he once was. Richardson trusts that he'll be able to add both of those things.
"A guy like that, especially at the center position, probably could be a vice quite a bit as a F1 or F2," Richardson said. "That'll be helpful to have that speed up there and physicality with a big body."