The Oilers made a clear bet on Jason Dickinson when they went out and filled one of their biggest holes ahead of the 2026 Trade Deadline. Edmonton needed a third-line centre, Dickinson arrived, and the fit was immediate. He was a pending unrestricted free agent, but the Oilers kept him around on a five-year deal with a $4 million cap hit.
That’s the kind of move that tells you exactly what a player means to a team. Dickinson isn’t being paid to pile up points.
He’s there to handle a job, handle it well, and make life easier for the rest of the roster. The 31-year-old did that last season, even if the numbers only tell part of the story.
Between Edmonton and the Chicago Blackhawks, Dickinson put up seven goals and 17 points in 64 games. After the trade, he added one goal and four points in 17 games for the Oilers.
Then came the playoffs, where he chipped in two goals and three points in four games while basically playing on one leg. Even with the injury, he pushed through and still made an impact.
Now he’s heading into his first full season in Edmonton, and the biggest reason the Oilers wanted him is still the same: he can kill penalties. Dickinson is a defensively minded centre who can go up against top competition and thrive on the penalty kill. At the time of the trade, Chicago led the NHL with an 85.6 percent penalty-killing rate, and he was a major part of that success.
Edmonton’s penalty kill needed help, and Dickinson gave it some. In 31:37 of shorthanded ice time with the Oilers, he was on the ice for just three goals against and recorded two takeaways.
Edmonton moved from 25th to 20th in penalty-kill percentage after the addition, and from March 6 through April 17, the unit ranked 10th at 81.6 percent. That kind of improvement goes a long way toward earning trust inside the organization.
The best-case scenario is straightforward: Dickinson helps keep the penalty kill inside the top 10 and gives Edmonton a steadier defensive presence at 5-on-5, too. Team defence has been a problem for years, and he’s supposed to be part of the answer. Ideally, he stays in the third-line centre role all season, takes the tougher assignments, and lightens the burden on the top players.
There’s also a reasonable offensive target here. Dickinson is not going to be asked to drive the attack, but the Oilers still need something from their bottom six.
Ten goals and 25 points would be a solid season. He’s only topped 10 goals once, when he set a career high with 22 in 2023-24, but he has reached nine goals twice.
In a stronger offensive environment, another bump wouldn’t be a surprise.
The downside is just as clear. If Edmonton doesn’t get real improvement on the penalty kill, then the trade and contract lose a lot of their value.
The Oilers brought him in for that specific purpose. If he can’t deliver, that’s a problem.
The same goes for his role at centre. If he’s bumped out of the third-line spot, it means things have gone badly enough that the team had to look elsewhere.
Offensively, anything below five goals and 15 points would fall short, especially with the $4 million cap hit. Even then, Dickinson’s value isn’t built on flash.
He’s the kind of player who stays in his lane, does the dirty work, and usually keeps the team from having to worry about what he’s doing out there. At 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, he gives Edmonton a reliable option in a few different areas.
The Oilers know exactly what they’re getting with Dickinson. The question now is how much more he can give them in a full season.
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For the Oilers, the timing is the part worth watching. Injuries have already created a sense that they may need help sooner rather than later, and the team could be pushed toward a professional tryout of its own if the current situation lingers. With other clubs making those low-risk additions now, Edmonton may not want to wait long before deciding whether it needs another camp body or two of its own. [Read more 🡒]