Toropchenko was a starting lineup player and likely would still be if not the injury, agree about Foo though. Sustr was an AHL player when he signed with Kunlun, now at least he is considered a borderline NHL player I think, so some progress was there.
But actually none of this history matters as such, as basically every year Kunlun is kind of a new organization with new coaches and they are the ones responsible for the development. This year Viktors Ignatjevs will be the D coach there and he has a solid reputation as last year he built very impressive Metallurg team's defense, arguably the best in the KHL. Head coach Greg Ireland might not have the highest of the reputations, but has a lot of experience on both sides of the pond.