Dean Kukan (born 8 July 1993) is a Swiss professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

currently playing with the

ZSC Lions The Zürcher Schlittschuh Club Lions (ZSC Lions) are a professional ice hockey team located in Zürich, Switzerland, playing in the National League (NL). Their home arena is the 12,000-seat Swiss Life Arena. The team was founded in 1930 and playe ...

of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

(NL). He is of

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

descent.

Playing career

Kukan played in the 2006

Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament The Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament (french: Tournoi international de hockey pee-wee de Québec) is an annual minor ice hockey event in Quebec City. The tournament was founded in 1960 to coincide with the Quebec Winter Carnival, ...

with a youth team from

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

. Undrafted, he made his European Elite debut during the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season playing in the Swiss

National League A The National League (NL) is a professional ice hockey league in Switzerland and is the top tier of the Swiss league system. Prior to the 2017–18 season, the league was known as National League A. During the 2018–19 season, the league ha ...

with the

. After two seasons, Kukan left for

Luleå HF Luleå Hockeyförening is an ice hockey club from Luleå, Sweden. The club has been playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the top tier of ice hockey in Sweden, since the 1984–85 season. They are the northernmost team in the league and h ...

in the

Swedish Hockey League The Swedish Hockey League (officially SHL; sv, Svenska Hockeyligan) is a professional ice hockey league, and the highest division in the Swedish ice hockey system. The league currently consists of 14 teams. The league was founded in 1975, an ...

(SHL). Kukan established a role on the blueline with Luleå HF over six seasons before using an NHL out-clause after the 2014–15 season, to sign a two-year entry-level contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets on 1 June 2015. In the 2015–16 season, Kukan made his NHL debut on 26 March 2016, against the

Nashville Predators The Nashville Predators (commonly referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and ha ...

at the

Bridgestone Arena Bridgestone Arena (originally Nashville Arena, and formerly Gaylord Entertainment Center and Sommet Center) is a multi-purpose venue in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Completed in 1996, it is the home of the Nashville Predators of ...

. He was reassigned to their AHL affiliate at the end of the Blue Jackets season and went on to win the 2016 Calder Cup. On June 9, 2017, the Blue Jackets re-signed Kukan to a one-year, two-way extension. On February 7, 2020, Kukan was signed to a two-year contract extension by the Blue Jackets. Following his seventh season in North America in , and despite recording career best 3 goals and 11 points through 41 games with the Blue Jackets, Kukan as an impending free agent opted to return to his native Switzerland in re-joining original club, ZSC Lions, on a five-year contract through 2027 on 1 June 2022.

International play

Kukan participated at the

2012 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships The 2012 IIHF U20 World Championship (commonly known as the 2012 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships) was the 36th edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship. It was hosted in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It began on Decemb ...

as a member of the

Switzerland men's national junior ice hockey team The Switzerland men's national under 20 ice hockey team is the national under-20 ice hockey team of Switzerland. The team is controlled by the Schweizerischer Eishockeyverband, a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. History Switzer ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honors

References

External links

* 1993 births Living people Swiss people of Czech descent Swiss ice hockey defencemen Asplöven HC players Cleveland Monsters players Columbus Blue Jackets players Swiss expatriate ice hockey people GCK Lions players Lake Erie Monsters players Luleå HF players Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Swiss expatriate sportspeople in the United States Tingsryds AIF players Undrafted National Hockey League players ZSC Lions players People from Uster District Sportspeople from the canton of Zürich {{Switzerland-icehockey-bio-stub