The Blackhawks locked up another veteran forward for a few more seasons on Tuesday morning, signing Jason Dickinson to a two-year deal that will carry through the end of the 2025-26 season.
The deal carries a salary cap hit of $4.25 million, a decent raise over the $2.65 million he was making this season on the final year of the three-year, $7.95 million contract he signed with the Vancouver Canucks in August 2021.
Dickinson was traded to the Blackhawks just over a year later in a cost-cutting move for Vancouver, with the Blackhawks receiving a 2024 second-round pick from Vancouver to take on the contract while sending defenseman Riley Stillman the other way.
In the 78 games Dickinson played last season, he posted a career-high 30 points (9 G, 21 A) while his average ice time surged from 13:03 per game in his final Vancouver season to 15:56 with Chicago. That number is up a bit more this winter to 16:09 through 43 games. Dickinson is riding a bit of a shooting percentage heater this season — 21.2 percent, well over his career mark of 10.2 — and has a career-high 14 goals to show for it, along with 7 assists. He’s on pace for a 40-point season, which would be a new career-high. He’s second to Connor Bedard among Blackhawks forwards in overall ice time this season and also leads all Chicago forwards in PK time at 2:15 per game. On a team with a more established top-six, Dickinson seems like an ideal fit for a bottom-six role.
This contract feels similar to the one doled out to Nick Foligno last Friday, in that it’s a bit of an overpay for a veteran forward handed out by a team that can certainly afford a few short-term overpays while its still searching for the salary cap floor. Dickinson is nearly a decade younger than Foligno, though, as he’ll turn 29 this summer, so it’s far more possible for Dickinson to carve out more of a future with the Blackhawks than Foligno.
Even with Dickinson’s numbers on the books, the Blackhawks projected salary for next season remains comically low: