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Getting to know Colton Dach and Jason Dickinson, the two players the Oilers acquired from the Blackhawks
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Photo credit: © Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Mar 5, 2026, 09:00 ESTUpdated: Mar 5, 2026, 09:10 EST
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The Edmonton Oilers have made their second move leading into Friday’s trade deadline.
On Wednesday evening, insider Frank Seravalli reported that the Oilers have traded Andrew Mangiapane and a conditional 2027 first, top-12 protected, to the Chicago Blackhawks for Jason Dickinson (50 per cent retention) and Colton Dach. 
Combined with the Connor Murphy trade from Monday, this trade has essentially become Dach, Dickinson (50 per cent retention) and Murphy (50 per cent retention) for a 2027 first, a 2028 second, and Mangiapane. 
It’s likely Dickinson will be the player to fill the third-line centre role. The Georgetown, Ontario product hasn’t scored a whole lot in 2025-26, potting just six goals and 13 points in 47 games. Over an 82-game pace, he’d have 10 goals and 22 points. That’s right around his career norms, as his 82-game average sits at 11 goals and 25 points.
If he is able to reach double-digit goals, it’ll only be the second time in his career he’s been able to achieve that. Back in 2023-24, the left-shot centre scored 22 goals and 35 points, a very obvious outlier that should not be expected of him once he officially joins the Oilers. He has reached the 30-point mark twice in his career, though.
He’s not particularly strong at faceoffs, winning 49.5 percent of draws in 2025-26 and 47.6 percent of the draws in his career, but he’s a defensively reliable third-line centre. In fact, he finished 12th in Selke Trophy voting in 2023-24, and his defensive metrics have always been strong.
Another wrinkle to this trade is that alongside Murphy, Dickinson was a part of the Blackhawks’ first unit on the penalty kill. Why is that important? Well, they’ve killed off 85.9 per cent of penalties this season, good enough for tops in the National Hockey League. Different system and all, but the Oilers are clearly looking to improve their goal prevention, as well as their penalty kill.
As for Dach, the 23-year-old was born in St. Albert, Alberta, and played his junior hockey with the Saskatoon Blades, Kelowna Rockets, and Seattle Thunderbirds, winning the Ed Chynoweth Cup with the Thunderbirds alongside Reid Schaefer in 2023. Dach was drafted 62nd overall by the Blackhawks in 2021, and he has three goals and nine points in 53 games this season.
While there’s still some potential in the 23-year-old, what Dach already provides is physicality, as the 6-foot-4, 218-pound centre has laid the body 189 times this season, good enough for 10th in the league. That’s eight more than the old Oilers’ hit leader, Vasily Podkolzin.
Who knows, perhaps a potential breakout is on the horizon for Dach, much like Podkolzin has since the Oilers acquired him, or like how fellow St. Albert native Matthew Savoie has this season. After all, Dach is a skilled player who uses his body, albeit with below-average speed.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. Follow her on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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