Thomas Steen played his entire National Hockey League career with the Winnipeg Jets, where he may not have been known outside small-market Winnipeg and his home country of Sweden, but he was a player who was vastly underrated, selfless, and thus invaluable to the Jets, who never let him go.  Beyond his work with the Jets, Steen played internationally for Sweden at three Canada Cups and was a two-time Silver Medalist at the World Championship.  Steen’s #25 would be retired by the Jets in 1995.

This one might be a little difficult to justify putting him on this list at all, as many considered the career of Sergei Samsonov a disappointment, but while he may not have lived up to lofty expectations, there is no doubt that the Russian had a promising career. 

Bryan Smolinski could be considered a journeyman of sorts in the National Hockey League (he did play with nine teams) but his skill set was always coveted as every team can use a player who could score when needed and was adept at the penalty kill.  The Centre would score 651 Points over a 1,056 Game NHL career.

Real Cloutier was an absolute phenom in Quebec, and rather than wait for the age-restricted National Hockey League, he would go directly from the Quebec Ramparts of the QMJHL to the Quebec Nordiques of the WHA, where he could play professionally as an 18-year-old.