After helping Lulea win the first ever Champions Hockey League title two years ago, Dean Kukan joined Lulea teammate, Daniel Zaar, this year and headed over to the United States. Through most of the first three months of last season, Dean was a constant in the Monsters lineup, missing only four games. One can presume that the Swiss defensemen spent his first 23 games getting used to the smaller ice. He scored only eight points with three goals and five assists in that span. Then, in late December, Dean suffered an upper body injury forcing him to miss the next three months before he was able to return to the Monsters’ lineup.
When Dean returned, he picked up two more assists before making a bit of history. On March 25th, Dean was called up to the Jackets and made his NHL debut making him the 27th Swiss player to dress in the NHL and first Swiss player all-time to play for the Jackets. In his debut, Dean played 14:45. In his second game, he took two less shifts in almost three minutes less in icetime. After a slight bump back up to the 14 minute range, Dean must have done something right in the eyes of his coaches because in back to back games, he played 21 plus minutes and was a +4 in a win over Carolina. In his next game, Dean played 22 minutes, before facing Toronto when he was again a +4.
In his final two games in the big league, Dean played 19:58 and 18:35 to close out the NHL season. In his eight games, Dean played mostly with David Savard and led the CBJ’s rookies in icetime and was second on the team with a +9 (it bears mention that the Jackets +/- leader was the waived Kevin Connauton). While sample size is clearly a consideration here, according to Corsica.hockey, Kukan did put up a a CF% of 48.90% and a SCF60 of 7.96, albeit with a PDO of 112.3.
Dean played the Monsters final four regular season games and picked up three assists, before playing in every game of the playoffs where he picked up five points in the opening and closing round. Dean was paired with Zach Werenski and Dillon Heatherington in the regular season but spent most of the playoffs paired with vet Steve Eminger.
FUTURE OUTLOOK
Dean is among a group of five to six defensemen in a battle for the Jackets’ six-seventh dman spot. Barring injuries, Dean will likely be back in Cleveland among the Monsters top four and is probable to play in all situations, with most of his special teams work coming on the power play. I see Dean being one of the first call ups on defense.
Age: 23 (7/8/96)
Position: Defense
Shoots: Left
Height/Weight: 6’2″, 198lbs
2015/16 Team: Lake Erie Monsters(AHL)
Likely 2016/17 Destination: Cleveland Monsters (AHL)
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