Dallas Stars Sign Forward Jason Dickinson To One-Year Deal

The Dallas Stars took another step today in the road to signing all of their restricted free agents back on. They locked down Jason Dickinson on a one-year deal.

There’s now one less RFA for the Dallas Stars to worry about.

On Friday morning, the Stars announced that they had signed Jason Dickinson to a one-year deal worth $875,000. The contract is one-way, meaning he will be paid the same amount regardless of which league he skates in during the 2018-19 season.

The 23-year-old forward has spent the past few seasons bouncing between the Dallas Stars (NHL) and Texas Stars (AHL). He made his NHL debut in the 2015-16 season, where he scored his first NHL goal in his first game.

But since then, the 2013 first-round pick hasn’t been able to solidify his position in the NHL. He played in 10 games with Dallas in 2016-17 and scored two goals, but never became a consistent member of the lineup.

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The 2017-18 season was a disappointing one for Dickinson. Part of it was due to his misusage by the coaching staff, considering he skated most of his NHL minutes on the wing when he’s a natural center. Dickinson played in 27 games, but only posted two assists and a -2 rating. Then again, it’s hard to do much when averaging 8:32 on the ice per game.

Dickinson has good size for a center and knows how to use his frame to get physical. He posted 45 hits during the 2017-18 season and provided some intensity on the fourth line.

As the NHL season drew to a close, Dickinson was sent back down to the AHL and helped the Texas Stars in their run to the Calder Cup Finals. He scored two goals and tallied 10 points during the run.

Going into the offseason, the assumption by some was that Dickinson, who plays a similar style to Antoine Roussel, would slide into the left wing spot on the Stars’ third line and take his place. It looked as though he had finally earned his full-time NHL spot.

But after Dallas signed Blake Comeau to a three-year deal, it looks like Dickinson will once again be in the scrap for a fourth line job for the season ahead. Competition is good, but when some of your top young players have to duke it out for a spot that seems long overdue after their previous years, it might not be the best thing.

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Dickinson is still developing into a full-time NHL player and is showing decent strides. This one-year deal gives him a chance to further prove himself and earn not only a spot on the NHL roster, but also a longer-term contract. It’s all up to how he handles the situation.

Only two regular RFAs and three arbitration RFAs left to deal with.