Marcel Dionne played his first four seasons for Detroit, where he emerged as their brightest star, but the team itself was abysmal. His agent orchestrated a trade to Los Angeles, where in the bright lights, he became their first bona fide superstar.
Dionne had 94 Points in his debut season as a King, but he shot that up to 122 in his second campaign wearing the crown. The French-Canadian Center was a First Team All-Star, won the Lady Byng, and the best was yet to come.
He would eventually be joined by wingers Charlie Simmer and Dave Taylor, dubbed "The Triple Crown Line," arguably the first star threesome in Kings' history. Dionne scored 130 Points 1978-79, finishing third in Hart Trophy voting but winning the Ted Lindsay Award (then named the Lester B. Pearson Award) as the MVP as voted on by his peers. He missed out on the Hart again in 1979-80, losing to Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky, but Dionne beat him for the Art Ross (he tied Gretzky in Points with 137, but had more Goals) and won his second Ted Lindsay Award.
Gretzky would then eclipse Dionne as the premier Center in hockey, but Dionne was still a potent player. He would have four more 100-plus Point campaigns for Los Angeles, and in six of his 11 years as a King, he eclipsed 50 Goals.
History repeated itself, as Dionne grew frustrated with the Kings' inability to go deep in the playoffs or even make it at all, and he requested a trade to a contender, which he got late in the 1986-87 Season to the Rangers, where he would finish his career.
With the Kings, Dionne scored 1,307 Points and is the all-time leader in franchise history. He entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1992 in his first year of eligibility, and in 1990, his number 16 became the second jersey retired by the team.
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