ZSC Lions transfer coup – From Columbus to Zurich – Dean Kukan returns
From Columbus to Zurich – Dean Kukan returns
At the World Championships in Helsinki he is the Swiss marathon man, next season he will run for the ZSC Lions. Dean Kukan has decided to return at 28.
Is he going? Or is he not going? There is a lot of talk these days about Denis Malgin, who is also brilliant on the World Cup stage and is being watched by NHL scouts. Whether the 25-year-old will get another good chance in the world’s best league is an open question. But one thing is clear now: Dean Kukan is returning to the ZSC Lions after eleven years in Sweden and North America.
He’s showing that he’ll be a big boost these days at the World Championships, where he forms the first defensive pair with Jonas Siegenthaler and is the Swiss marathon man with over 20 minutes of ice time. “What always drew me to Kukan was his calm,” says national coach Patrick Fischer. “He never gets stressed, although he usually plays against the opponent’s top formation.”
After the season he thought a lot, says Kukan. “It’s the right time to return to Switzerland. I’ll be 29 in the summer and we’re expecting our second child in September. In the NHL it’s always uncertain whether and how many minutes I can play. In Switzerland I know what I have. I’m sure I’ll be able to play a good role there. Then ice hockey is more fun.”
Kukan says he has settled his future, but is not yet allowed to say where it is. The ZSC Lions also do not want to comment on this. However, various sources confirm that Kukan is returning to Zurich on a multi-year contract. That fits with the Lions’ strategy of bringing back former juniors. As before Sven Andrighetto (2020) and Denis Malgin (2021).
Kukan left the ZSC organization in 2011 at the young age of 18 after what he says was an unsatisfactory season in farm team GCK Lions. He moved to Sweden’s Lulea and has been a regular in the first team for two years.
“I’m still grateful to this organization today,” he says. “I had excellent coaches who believed in me and showed me what I can do as a player.” He also met his future wife there, he adds. Now they are moving to Switzerland together for the first time. But they continue to spend the summer in Pitea in northern Sweden.
«It was seven cool years in Columbus. But I always had to fight for my place and could never really establish myself in the top 4. »
From 2015 to 2022, Kukan played 172 games for the Columbus Blue Jackets and 159 games in the American Hockey League. “It was seven cool years in Columbus,” he says. “But I always had to fight for my place and could never really establish myself in the top 4. I had to hope for other interventions and was injured several times myself. » Most bitter was his knee injury in early 2020 after struggling to find a good role in the team.
His highlights include winning the AHL Championship with Lake Erie in 2015 and winning the 2019 playoff with Columbus when the Blue Jackets were the big favorites Beaten qualifier Tampa Bay. If he’s learned anything in the NHL, it’s to be solid defensively. “Otherwise the coach won’t let you play as a fifth or sixth defender.”
With the national team, the 1.87 meter man under Patrick Fischer now has much more responsibility. “And if you have more ice age, you can also announce yourself much better,” he says. For him, the World Cup is a foretaste of his time with the ZSC Lions. He says: “I can’t wait to play in Switzerland. I will win.”
Simon Graf is Deputy Head of the sports department and has been reporting on ice hockey and tennis for over 20 years. Published at the University of Zurich History and German Studies and has written several sports books, including a bestseller about Roger Federer in 2018.
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