Blackhawks forward Jason Dickinson might just be a general manager one day.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Jason Dickinson has cemented himself this season as a strong candidate to be the most interesting Blackhawk.

He’s an amateur carpenter in his spare time. He grew up, in a wild coincidence, in the same small Ontario town as MacKenzie Entwistle and Taylor Raddysh. He naturally builds chemistry with anyone who wears No. 24 — which was first Sam Lafferty, then Anders Bjork.

And in the wake of the Hawks’ flurry of earth-shaking trades leading up to the March 3 deadline, Dickinson offered some in-depth analyses that suggested a promising post-playing-career future as an NHL general manager.

“The [crappy] part about the business side is guys are going to move on,” Dickinson said Feb. 27. “Teams have to get picks. They have to start building for the future. … It’s really the only way to build a team.”

Most active players insist they don’t care about draft picks. After all, draft picks aren’t actual men sitting beside them in the locker room and battling with them on the ice, at least at the moment.

But Dickinson, on the other hand, fully grasps their value. The fact Hawks GM Kyle Davidson has accumulated so many for the years ahead genuinely excites him, even if — with just one year left on his current contract — there’s no guarantee he’s around to see the process progress.

“I’m a very tactical mind,” Dickinson said. “I look at everything like a puzzle. They’re building their puzzle right now.

“All those draft picks are pieces of …read more

Source:: Chicago Sun Times