VANCOUVER – As his new team tries frantically to catch his old one, Vancouver Canucks forward Jason Dickinson figures it’s too late to redeem his season. But beating the Dallas Stars at Rogers Arena could still help the Canucks save theirs.
“That’s the only thing that’s on my mind, the only reason I’m playing right now,” Dickinson told Sportsnet ahead of Monday’s last chance against the Stars. “I want to be in the playoffs so badly, and you can see it there. It’s still within reach. Everybody’s dropping like flies right now, it seems, so we need everybody we can get out there. I just really want to be in the playoffs.”
But even that miraculous outcome – the Canucks trail the Stars and Nashville Predators by seven points in the wild-card race and have only seven games remaining – wouldn’t save Dickinson’s season.
“I mean, on a personal level, no,” the 26-tear-old said candidly. “It’s still a garbage season that I’d love to forget. But making the playoffs is a great achievement as a team and that is something to be proud of. But it’s been a lot of work for a lot of other guys. . . and I didn’t contribute near as much as I would have liked to or should have.
“The mental part of it has gotten in my own way. I expect a lot for myself, and when it’s not happening, I tend to get hard on myself and I tend to maybe shut down some days. I don’t want to say I don’t bring 100 per cent (effort), but I don’t have 100 per cent of my attention if I’m mentally beating myself up. It’s hard to kind of recover day to day because you’re constantly just in your own head, stopping yourself from meeting your true potential.”
Dickinson admits he hasn’t been close to that potential in his first season with the Canucks.
Pinched by the expansion draft last July, the Stars surrendered Dickinson to the Canucks in exchange for a third-round pick.
A versatile forward who played all three forward spots and up and down the Stars’ lineup, Dickinson was widely respected for his skating and checking skills, as well as his character. Dallas general manager Jim Nill said Dickinson could have worn a letter for the Stars had he stayed.
Acquiring GM Jim Benning talked about Dickinson’s leadership and suitability as a third-line centre. There was discussion in Vancouver about the player’s offensive ceiling and how the former first-round pick from Georgetown, Ont., could score significantly more with the Canucks than he did the last three years in Dallas, which included a run to 2020 Stanley Cup Final and an average scoring rate equivalent to 26 points over an 82-game season.
But after signing a three-year, $7.95-million-US contract with the Canucks, Dickinson has produced just four goals and four assists in 55 games, missed 16 games with a lower-body injury from which he has still not fully recovered, and sunk towards the bottom of the lineup after Benning and coach Travis Green were fired in December.
Based on role and performance, Dickinson might be unrecognizable to a lot of his former Stars teammates.
“It’s been extremely tough, both mentally and physically,” he said. “I’ve dealt with a lot of injuries this year. And then the mental aspect, everything just kind of piles on and it starts to take its toll. There’s a lot of self-doubt that happens throughout the year and a lot of questioning yourself and what you’re doing, and trying to find some sort of peace with everything and make it all work on the ice. It does get tough when you’re battling your mental demons.”
The Canucks are expected to play Monday without captain Bo Horvat, injured while blocking a shot in Thursday’s 7-1 win against the Arizona Coyotes, but could get injured winger Brock Boeser back. In the absence of Horvat and Boeser, Dickinson practised Friday on a line with Elias Pettersson.
In six games since pushing himself back from injury, Dickinson has a goal and assist while averaging 13:04 of ice time. The Canucks are 5-0-1.
“The one thing is he has tried so hard, and he cares a lot,” coach Bruce Boudreau said. “When he was out, he was doing everything he could to get back in.
“He’s a really smart player. His (offensive) numbers are not anywhere near what you would like. But everything’s in the past, so let’s see what we can bring forward. If he was to go out and pull a (Alex) Chiasson and get five goals and two assists in the last seven games, it’d be unbelievable.”
Promoted from the fourth line after Boeser suffered an arm injury, Chiasson has five goals and three assists the last four games – as many points as Dickinson has this season.
“Right before I got hurt, actually, I started to feel pretty good about where I was and what I was here,” Dickinson said. “I was always a Swiss Army Knife in Dallas, so I’m OK with (changing roles). I think communication was the biggest thing for me. I talked to Bruce one day, I said: ‘Play me wherever you want, but just talk to me, tell me what you want and I’ll go out and do it. I’m not somebody that’s going to be a problem for you.’ After we had that conversation, everything was great. We had very clear communication and I felt like things were a lot better for us.”
Dickinson has wondered at times where he fits with the Canucks, whether the team wants him back next season. New GM Patrik Allvin said in February that a lot of Canucks have something to prove, and Dickinson has at least seven more games to prove something.
