Everyone likely agrees that the Hall of Fame career of Marcel Dionne was forged as a Los Angeles King, but it began in the Original Six with Detroit, a team that was not immensely blessed with other talents on Dionne's level at the time.
Vyacheslav Kozlov arrived in the NHL as an early Third Round Pick in 1990, and after bouncing back and forth between the minors and the parent club, Kozlov was ready to stay in the 1993-94 Season with a 73 Point Season.
In Larry Murphy’s 17th NHL Season, he was traded from the Toronto Maple Leafs to the Detroit Red Wings for their playoff run. The Defenseman had already been a Second Team All-Star three times, and when he was with Pittsburgh, he aided them in winning their first two Stanley Cups, so the Red Wings knew they had a veteran blueline who knew how to win.
Igor Larionov was one of Hockey's best players in the 1980s, but he was not a member of the NHL. This was because he was from the Soviet Union, and they were not permitted to play in North America. Larionov finally went across the world in 1989, playing for Vancouver, the Swiss League, and San Jose before he was traded to Detroit before the 1995-96 season.