František Kučera

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Czech RepublicCzech Republic  František Kučera Ice hockey player
Date of birth 3rd February 1968
place of birth Prague , Czechoslovakia
size 188 cm
position defender
Shot hand Right
Draft
NHL Entry Draft 1986 , 4th round, 77th position
Chicago Blackhawks
Career stations
until 1988 HC Sparta Prague
1988-1990 ASD Dukla Jihlava
1990-1994 Chicago Blackhawks
1994-1995 Hartford Whalers
1995-1996 Vancouver Canucks
1996-1997 Syracuse Crunch
Philadelphia Phantoms
1997-2000 HC Sparta Prague
2000-2001 Columbus Blue Jackets
2001 Pittsburgh Penguins
2001-2002 Washington Capitals
2002-2005 HC Slavia Prague

František Kučera (born February 3, 1968 in Prague , Czechoslovakia ) is a former Czech ice hockey player who played until 2004 at HC Sparta Prague in the Czech extra league on the position of defender . During his time in North America, he completed a total of 477 games for the Chicago Blackhawks , Hartford Whalers , Columbus Blue Jackets and Washington Capitals in the National Hockey League .

Career

František Kučera started his career in his hometown with HC Sparta Prague. During the NHL Entry Draft 1986 he was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the fourth round in 77th place, but initially continued to play for Sparta and from 1988 for the army club HC Dukla Jihlava . Before the 1990/91 season he moved to North America to the Blackhawks, for which he completed over 200 NHL games. The Blackhawks gave him together with Jocelyn Lemieux in March 1994 from the Hartford Whalers, who in return transferred Gary Suter , Randy Cunneyworth and a draft pick to Chicago.

In the following two years he ran for the Whalers, who exchanged him with Jim Dowd for Jeff Brown in December 1996 . In Vancouver Kučera could not prevail, so that he was given in March 1997 to the Philadelphia Flyers . Even this change did not bring the hoped-for ice age in the NHL, so František Kučera decided to return to Europe. Between 1997 and 2000 he played again for his home club Sparta in the Czech Extraliga and the European Hockey League . After winning the gold medal at the Ice Hockey World Championship in 2000 and the Czech Championship in 2000 , he got a contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets , for which he completed 48 NHL games.

But he did not settle in Columbus either, but instead was transferred to the Pittsburgh Penguins as an exchange object in March 2001 . There he met his national team colleague Jaromír Jágr , with whom he played ten games in Pittsburg. In July of the same year, the two Czechs were handed over to Washington, who in return sent Kris Beech , Michal Sivek and Ross Lupaschuk to Pittsburgh. Together with Jágr, Kučera played 56 NHL games for the Capitals before returning to his homeland to Sparta Prague and winning the Czech championship.

After this success he moved to city rivals HC Slavia Prague . Before he retired from active sport in 2004, he won the Czech championship title again with Slavia Prague in 2003.

International

František Kučera has participated in all major international championships in the course of his career. He played his first tournament in 1986 with the U18 youth team of Czechoslovakia. A year later, at the U20 World Cup in 1987 , he won his first medal in championships. With the Czechoslovak national team he won a bronze medal ( World Cup 1989 ). He had his greatest successes in the squad of the Czech national team , with which he was twice world champion (1999, 2000) and won a bronze medal at world championships. The greatest success of his career was winning the gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano .

Achievements and Awards

International

statistics

Seasons Games Gates Assists Points Penalty minutes
NHL Regular Season 9 465 24 95 119 251
NHL playoffs 2 12 0 1 1 0
Extraliga main round 13 413 57 150 207 311
Extraliga playoffs 5 48 4th 15th 19th 65

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kučera, František
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kucera, Frantisek
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czech ice hockey player
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd February 1968
PLACE OF BIRTH Prague , Czechoslovakia