Blue Jackets' Dean Kukan plans to play in Switzerland next season, not continue NHL career
After seven seasons in the Blue Jackets' organization, defenseman Dean Kukan doesn't plan to return this fall.
Kukan signed a two-year, $3.3 million contract extension in 2020 and will become an unrestricted free agent July 13. While competing for Switzerland at the IIHF World Championships in Finland, he told Swiss reporters that his intention is to play in the National League in Switzerland next season.
Dean Kukan: “Volevo giocare in NHL e ci sono riuscito. Ora non ho un contratto e in estate compirò 29 anni. Voglio una squadra in cui giocare con continuità. Per questo ho deciso di tornare in Svizzera”. In serata l’intervista completa su @CdT_Online
— Fernando Lavezzo (@lavezzof) May 20, 2022
"I wanted to play in the NHL and I did," Kukan told Fernando Lavezzo, a reporter with Corriere del Ticino. "Now, I don't have a contract and I will turn 29 this summer. I want a team in which I can play continuously. This is why I have decided to return to Switzerland."
Kukan signed with the Jackets as an undrafted free agent in 2015 after playing two seasons with Luleå in the Swedish Hockey League. He spent the majority of his first three seasons in North America with the Lake Erie/Cleveland Monsters in the AHL before becoming a full-time NHL player in 2018.
This season, Kukan played 41 games for the Jackets. He missed time early in the season with a broken wrist but returned to set career-highs in every offensive category, with three goals and eight assists for 11 total points.
Across his six seasons with Columbus, Kukan played 153 NHL games and tallied 30 points.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets: Dean Kukan set to return to Switzerland
