František Kučera (born February 3, 1968) is a Czech former 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 ...

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

who played in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

(NHL) for the

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Divisio ...

Hartford Whalers The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 until 1979, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1979 to ...

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, and play their home games at Rogers Arena. Bruce ...

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team play ...

Columbus Blue Jackets The Columbus Blue Jackets (often simply referred to as the Jackets) are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ...

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

and

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, a ...

Playing career

Originally drafted in 1986 by the

, Kučera played parts of four seasons with Chicago before he was traded to the

. He would also play for the

and

before he returned to play hockey in the Czech Republic at the end of the

1996–97 NHL season The 1996–97 NHL season was the 80th regular season of the National Hockey League. The Stanley Cup winners were the Detroit Red Wings, who swept the Philadelphia Flyers in four games and won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 42 years. ...

. Three years later, when the NHL expanded again, Kučera returned to North America and signed with the

. Midway through the season, he was traded to the

. He was traded again, this time to the

in the deal that also sent

Jaromír Jágr Jaromír Jágr (; born 15 February 1972) is a Czech professional ice hockey right winger for and the owner of Rytíři Kladno of the Czech Extraliga (ELH). He previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Pittsburgh Pengui ...

to Washington. After playing a season, he once again returned to the Czech Republic to play hockey. Kučera played 465 NHL games, scoring 24 goals and 95 assists. In 1998, he was a member of the Czech Olympic Team and won the golden Olympic medal.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kucera, Frantisek 1968 births Chicago Blackhawks draft picks Chicago Blackhawks players Columbus Blue Jackets players Czech ice hockey defencemen Czechoslovak ice hockey defencemen Hartford Whalers players HC Dukla Jihlava players HC Slavia Praha players HC Sparta Praha players Houston Aeros (1994–2013) players Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics Indianapolis Ice players Living people Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the Czech Republic Olympic ice hockey players of the Czech Republic Olympic medalists in ice hockey Ice hockey people from Prague Philadelphia Flyers players Philadelphia Phantoms players Pittsburgh Penguins players Syracuse Crunch players Vancouver Canucks players Washington Capitals players