Playing Career
Bondra was drafted by the Capitals in 1990, 156th overall. Before joining the Capitals he played for TJ VSŽ Košice (now called HC Košice) for four seasons from 1986-90 in Czechoslovakia. In Washington, Bondra became one of the more prolific goal-scorers of the 1990s. Due to the language barrier, he became good friends with Ukrainian-born Capitals player Dmitri Khristich, who he spoke with in both Russian and Ukrainian. His deepest playoff run came in 1997–98, when the Capitals advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals before being swept by Detroit. In the 2004 season, Bondra's 14th with Washington, the Capitals endured a disappointing year and in a salary purge move traded veteran members of the team to contenders. Bondra was traded to the Ottawa Senators for Brooks Laich and a second round draft pick. At the press conference announcing this trade Bondra notably became choked up.
In 14 years with the Capitals, he scored 472 goals and racked up 353 assists in 961 games. He holds Capitals team records in goals (472), points (825), power-play goals (137), game-winning goals (73), short-handed goals (32) and hat tricks (19). With the Caps he appeared in five all-star games (1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999). In 1997 and 1999 Bondra won the Fastest Skater Competition on All-Star weekend. In 2004, the Capitals held a vote for fans to determine the top 30 players in franchise history to celebrate their 30th season in the league. Bondra finished second with 2,018 votes. The winner, Olaf Kölzig, beat him by only 20 votes.
During the 1994-1995 (with 34 in a lockout-shortened season) and 1997–1998 seasons (with 52), Bondra led the league in goals scored.
After the 2004-2005 NHL season was canceled due to the NHL labor dispute, Bondra played a handful of games with HK Tatravagónka ŠKP Poprad of the Slovak Extraliga. Prior to the 2005-2006 NHL season, Bondra was in talks to rejoin the Capitals. He ended up signing with the Atlanta Thrashers.
On December 10, Bondra signed a one-year contract with the Chicago Blackhawks. On December 22, 2006, he scored his 500th NHL career goal at the United Center, in Chicago's 3–1 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Bondra drove to the net and netted the rebound of Jassen Cullimore's shot from the left point past Toronto's Jean-Sébastien Aubin, 6:37 into the third period on the power play. Bondra was the 37th player in league history to reach the 500–goal mark and the fourth player to record his 500th goal in a Chicago Blackhawks sweater (joining Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and Michel Goulet).
On October 29, 2007, Bondra announced his retirement from professional hockey at the age of 39. Since retirement Bondra has represented Colosseo USA, a Slovak company that custom makes 360-degree wraparound LED video scoreboards with game presentation system speaker arrays. Colosseo's first installation was in San Francisco's Cow Palace which was completely renovated to host the new ECHL hockey team San Francisco Bulls in Sept., 2012.
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