The Sharks are staring at a tricky Sam Dickinson decision, and the warning sign is already sitting in Chicago.
Dickinson is heading into his second professional season after being forced into the NHL as a 19-year-old, a situation San Jose never really had a clean solution for. He had already squeezed everything out of the Ontario Hockey League, but he still wasn’t fully NHL-ready. The AHL wasn’t an option at the time because of the age rules, and those rules are changing a season too late to help in this case.
So the Sharks played him. And while Dickinson held his own in a lot of ways, the growing pains showed up fast, especially on the offensive side of his game.
Per MoneyPuck, he had the second-most defensive zone giveaways among Sharks defensemen with 65, behind only Dmitry Orlov. He also finished 3.5 goals below expected and posted a brutal 1.4% shooting percentage.
Even so, for a 19-year-old defenseman, just surviving at the NHL level counted for something. Defensemen develop slower than forwards, and only Matthew Schaefer with the New York Islanders is mentioned here as an exception.
That’s where Chicago enters the picture. The Blackhawks took Kevin Korchinski seventh overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, two years before Dickinson went 11th.
Korchinski followed a similar path after his draft year, spending one more season in the Canadian Hockey League before hitting the point where junior hockey no longer offered much more. At 19, he also couldn’t go to the AHL, so Chicago sent him straight to the NHL.
At first glance, Korchinski looked like he was racing ahead. His rookie year with the Blackhawks was solid enough: 76 games, five goals, 10 assists, and 15 points.
Dickinson’s first season was a little lighter offensively, with one goal and 14 points in 72 games. Korchinski also logged more ice time, averaging 19:37 compared to Dickinson’s 16:45.
But the early promise didn’t hold. Chicago sent Korchinski to the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs to open the 2024-25 season, and the drop-off has been sharp since then. He’s now played 109 AHL games and only 29 NHL games over the last two seasons.
There are differences between the two. Korchinski has been more of a pure offense-first defenseman at the NHL level, while Dickinson has been more dependable in his own end.
Still, Korchinski’s path is exactly the kind of cautionary tale San Jose has to study closely. If the Sharks want Dickinson to become the number-one defenseman they need, this season has to be handled with care.
The takeaway for San Jose is simple: they can’t afford to get this wrong. If they believe in Dickinson, the safest move may be to stick with the choice they made last fall and keep him in the NHL, rather than risk a detour that could derail his development the way it has in Chicago.
In Other News...
Sharks Are Taking An Early Goalie Prospect Gamble
The Sharks are already taking a long look at Yaroslav Korostelyov, a recent seventh-round pick whose path to North America is arriving sooner than many late-round goalie selections do. After spending most of his time in Russias MHL and getting only a brief taste of the pro level in the VHL, the young netminder is set up as more of a developmental project than a finished product, the kind of swing San Jose can afford to take at that stage of the draft.
Korostelyov has ended his contract with SKA St. Petersburg and is slated to join the Sharks organization for the 2026-27 season, giving the club a chance to bring him into its system and evaluate him up close. The early expectation is that he may begin with Wichita in the ECHL instead of jumping straight to San Jose in the AHL, which tells you plenty about how measured this move is likely to be as the Sharks try to build depth in goal. [Read more 🡒]
Sharks Add Intriguing Goalie Prospect With A Big Development Question
The Sharks have added another interesting name to a prospect pool that has begun to draw real attention, with goaltender Korostelyov emerging as the latest player worth tracking. A 2024 seventh-round pick, he put up strong numbers in the MHL during the 2025-26 season, and the expectation is that his next step will come in North American pro hockey as he continues his development within the organization.
Jonathan Becher appeared to confirm the report over the weekend, even though the club had not issued an official statement by Sunday morning, leaving the final details to settle in. For San Jose, it comes on the heels of a busy stretch that also included contract extensions for Macklin Celebrini and Collin Graf, with Celebrinis record-setting season and EA Sports NHL 27 cover nod adding to the sense that the franchises young core is starting to define the present as much as the future. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Fans Are About To Feel How Different This Roster Looks
The Oilers offseason turnover has already started to reshape the picture for one familiar face, as Darnell Nurse heads to San Jose with a chance to give the Sharks a different kind of presence on the back end. Edmontons roster churn has been wide-ranging, with Jack Roslovic landing in Toronto and Calvin Pickard going to Minnesota, but Nurse is the one whose move carries the most immediate intrigue for a Sharks team looking to make every addition count.
What makes the deal worth watching from San Joses side is not just the name, but the fit. The Sharks are trying to balance needs on defense with the reality of a changing roster, and Nurse arrives after a season that showed he can still handle a heavy role. Edmonton, meanwhile, will open next season looking very different, and the ripple effect of those departures should be felt well beyond the Oilers locker room. [Read more 🡒]