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Can Jason Dickinson replicate his offensive peak with the Oilers? | 31 Oilers Questions (Day 7)

Photo credit: © Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

By Ryley Delaney

Aug 8, 2026, 15:00 EDTUpdated: Aug 8, 2026, 14:48 EDT

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This August, Oilersnation will ask one question about every Edmonton Oilers player projected to be on the 2026-27 roster in preparation for the upcoming season. From Connor McDavid to Mattias Janmark, let’s ask some questions.

Before free agency began, the Edmonton Oilers re-signed Jason Dickinson, locking up their presumptive third-line centre for the next half-decade. At the time, a five-year deal worth $4 million annually didn’t seem great, but once other players started to sign, it’s clear that the Oilers got a fair deal.

Dickinson is one of the better defensive centres in the league, but his offensive production leaves a little to be desired. The lone season where he reached double-digit goals was in 2023-24, when he scored 22 goals and 35 points with the Chicago Blackhawks.

That begs the question: Is there any way Dickinson can find that production again?

Can Jason Dickinson produce offensively similar to 2023-24?

The 2025-26 season was more in line with Dickinson’s career norms, scoring seven goals and 17 points in 64 games.

Removing the outlier that was the 2023-24 season, Dickinson averages about nine goals and 19 points over an 82-game season. Last season, he was on pace for nine goals (rounded up from 8.96) and 22 points (rounded up from 21.78).

There’s really no explanation as to why Dickinson went off the way he did in 2023-24. According to Natural Stat Trick, he played a career-high 1,058:18 minutes at five-on-five, scoring 19 goals and 28 points, but he played over 800 five-on-five minutes this past season and didn’t put up numbers even close to the 2023-24 campaign.

Was he playing with Connor Bedard or something? No.

His most common wingers were Joey Anderson and Colin Blackwell. Anderson, 28, played a career-high 55 games that season, but only appeared in 18 NHL games during the 2024-25 season and none in 2025-26. Blackwell is an NHLer, but he only scored eight goals and 12 points in 44 games that season.

Dickinson’s career-high shooting percentage

There are a few factors as to why Dickinson had the season he did. For starters, he remained healthy, playing all 82 games, the only time he has ever done that. The year before that, the centre played all but four games and scored nine goals and 30 points.

Dickinson also received power play time during those two seasons, totalling 52:07 in 2022-23 and 63:04 in 2023-24. He never played double-digit minutes on the power play in any other season. That said, his impact on the man-advantage was minimal, scoring a goal and two goals, respectively.

The most damning statistic to show why this was an outlier was his shooting percentage.

For his career, he has a 10.6 per cent shooting percentage. Removing his 2023-24 season from the equation, he has a 9.1 per cent shooting percentage. While he fired the most shots in his career in 2023-24 (126), he had a 17.5 per cent shooting percentage. That was tied for 31st among players with 50 or more games, so it’s not uncommon around the league, but it’s unsustainable for Dickinson.

I feel pretty confident in saying that Dickinson will never have another season like he did in 2023-24. However, seeing his production tick up next season isn’t out of the question.

How will Dickinson’s usage impact Edmonton’s offence in 2026-27?

Presuming his line will primarily be used as a shutdown line, Daily Faceoff has Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Kasperi Kapanen on his wings, for example. That line doesn’t really have a offensively play driver, but if it goes up against the other team’s third lines, it may be able to produce some offence.

If used against other teams’ top lines, it will allow Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl’s lines to thrive against weaker competition, while also being a defensively sound line.

It wouldn’t be shocking if Dickinson sees a tick in his production in 2026-27 — let’s predict 12 goals and 25 points — but 20-plus goals seems out of the question unless he decides to shoot a lot more or find that same run of good luck 17.5 per cent of the time like he did in 2023-24.

31 Oilers questions in 31 days…

Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. Follow her on X at @Ryley__Delaney.

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