Even Petr Klima sometimes has trouble believing it has been more than three decades since he tiptoed out of a hotel in Nussdorf, West Germany, that housed the Czechoslovakian national team. It was on that night in 1985 that he met a pair of Detroit Red Wings employees in a darkened parking lot and defected to start a new life in the NHL.
That act of international espionage preceded 13 NHL seasons with the Red Wings, Edmonton Oilers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Los Angeles Kings and Pittsburgh Penguins that saw equal parts triumph and disappointment, along with a Stanley Cup championship in 1990.