With the distinction of being the first ever Russian-born player to be drafted in the first round by a team in the National Hockey League, Alexei Kovalev did not disappoint. Kovalev would score over 1,000 Points in the NHL and is a winner of the Stanley Cup and a Gold Medal as a member of the 1992 Unified Team. The crafty forward was a three-time All-Star and would earn Second Team All-Star honors once in his career.

Dave Kerr began his National Hockey League career with the Montreal Maroons and the New York Americans, and later returned to the Maroons, but was traded by the cash-strapped team to the New York Rangers, where he would become one of the top Goalies in the last half of the 1930s and early 40s.  Kerr was named a Second Team All-Star in 1938, and in 1940, he had his best year, earning First Team All-Star honors, the Vezina Trophy, and leading the Rangers to the Stanley Cup Championship.

Along with Ulf Nilsson, Anders Hedberg became one of the first European stars in North America when the pair joined the Winnipeg Jets of  the World Hockey Association.  Hedberg would be named the Lou Kaplan Trophy winner as the WHA’s version of the rookie of the year and was a Second Team All-Star who scored 53 Goals and an even 100 Points.  Hedberg would go on an incredible run as a Jet as their top goal scorer, putting the puck in the net 50, 70, and 63 times over the next three years, with the 70 being league-leading.  The Swedish sensation would be a First Team All-WHA selection all three of those years, and he is the all-time leader in the World Hockey Association in Goals per Game.