Time CAPSule - Bondra Retires (10/30/07)

Earlier this season, we posted Alex Ovechkin's early years in DC](https://www.nhl.com/capitals/news/early-times-of-the-great-eight/c-311761890) and another Nicklas Backstrom's five-year contract extension](https://www.nhl.com/capitals/news/backstrom-takes-center-stage/c-313921356). In the process of crafting those stories and talking to the subjects themselves and many others, we were reminded of how exciting and thrilling the 2007-08 NHL season was in these parts.
It stands as Ovechkin's career year, it was Backstrom's rookie year, Bruce Boudreau took over behind the Washington bench on Thanksgiving Day, and the Caps made the playoffs for the first time in five years, winning 15 of 19, 11 of 12 and seven straight at season's end to come back from a dismal 6-14-1 start to win the Southeast Division title.
That season and that run into the playoffs augured in the "Rock The Red" era of hockey in DC, the beginning of 11 playoff appearances in a span of a dozen seasons. At this time a dozen years ago, the Caps were in the midst of that wild run. With the NHL's 2019-20 season "paused" for the foreseeable future, we're going to spend the next month looking back at the day-to-day of that remarkable late-season run, revisiting some of our coverage at the time with some fresh hindsight mixed in. On the off days between games, we will revisit some events from earlier in that landmark season. Enjoy!

Sunday, March 23, 2008
This was a practice day for the Caps after an off-day the day before. In the midst of six straight road games - but with a four-day gap between games in the middle of the swing - the Caps came home to enjoy an off day on Saturday and a pair of practices on Sunday and Monday before departing for Raleigh on Monday afternoon.
As noted above, as we "replay" the exciting stretch run of '07-08. we are including some coverage of significant events earlier in that pivotal 2007-08 season in our ongoing look back at that campaign, so today we'll dial the time machine back to late October. While in Toronto for the middle match of a three-game road trip on Oct. 29, we learned that Caps legend Peter Bondra would announce his retirement as an active NHL player. At the age of 38, Bondra totaled five goals and 14 points in 37 games with Chicago in 2006-07, but he was unable to hook on with another team in the league as an unrestricted free agent that summer.
Before Alex Ovechkin came along, Bondra was the guy who held most of Washington's career records for goal-scoring prowess. He was a dynamic talent who led the league in goals twice, had two 50-goal seasons, and had less to work with than Ovechkin in terms of supporting cast through most of his years in the District.
Those last five goals with the Hawks pushed Bondra over the 500 mark for his NHL career; he was the 30th player to reach that plateau and he scored 472 of those 503 career goals in his 961 games in a Washington sweater.
These days, Bondra is a familiar face around Capital One Arena and MedStar Capitals Iceplex as he now serves as the Capitals' director of alumni affairs and business development.

Here's the piece we posted here after he announced he was hanging up his skates to take over as the general manager of the Slovakian national team:
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Peter Bondra came to the Capitals in the late rounds of the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, an unknown to even the most rabid fans at that time. By the time he left the District in a Feb. 2004 trade with the Ottawa Senators, Bondra had re-written much of the Capitals' record book.
Bondra's NHL career officially came to a close on Monday when he announced his retirement to take over as the general manager of the Slovakian national team.
"It didn't catch me off-guard, because I knew that's the way he was leaning," says Caps coach Glen Hanlon. "I talked to him in the summertime about his plans and I knew that was offered to him. Once he didn't sign I felt that would be the direction he would be going. He's been a good player here and fans have appreciated his effort. We wish him all the best. He's got a tough job there. He's trying to get that Slovakian team back into the elite group. It's going to be a good transition for him."
"We congratulate Peter on his new appointment and his remarkable NHL career," says Capitals majority owner Ted Leonsis. "He represented the Washington Capitals with passion and tremendous skill. Peter's exuberance when he scored was a great example of the excitement and joy in our game - and he scored a lot. He retires as an all-time great Capital, and we wish him all the best with Team Slovakia."

It was the late Jack Button - the Capitals' longtime chief scout - who spotted Bondra playing for Kosice in the Czechoslovakia League and who convinced Washington's then-general manager David Poile to spend an eighth-round choice (156th overall) to bring the 22-year-old forward into the fold.
"Becoming an NHL player, everything was so quick," Bondra told us in an interview when he was still with the Capitals. "I remember one of the Capitals' big scouts - Jack Button - was scouting one game and I was playing in that game. I was so excited, but he had come over to see somebody else play. At that time, I had a great game and all of a sudden the next time he was watching my next game at home and that was the first time I met him, after that game. He kind of gave me the idea for the first time that I could play in the NHL. Obviously, I said 'yes,' I was so excited, but there was this little problem with communism at that time in our country but later on everything was taken care of and I was able to come over and play."
He was not an instant star in Washington, but it did not take long for the 22-year-old right wing to endear himself to a generation of Capitals hockey fans.
"It was tough," he recollected of those early days in DC. "I had never been to North America before. It was really hard. I didn't know what to expect. I never saw an NHL game before. My first NHL game I saw, I was in it. So I had the best seats in the house."
Bondra made the Caps out of training camp in the fall of 1990, and he beat New Jersey's Chris Terreri for his first NHL goal on Oct. 17, 1990. It would be the first of more than 500 NHL markers for Bondra.
"I remember that game pretty good," said the veteran Capitals right wing in a 2001 interview with washingtoncaps.com. "I had probably three or four breakaways and I didn't score a goal. Once, I had a breakaway but I tripped on the blueline with nobody around me. I was kind of nervous and at the same time so excited to play in that game. I don't remember whether we won or lost but that was definitely one of the highlights of my career, that first game.
"I remember I got the puck on the blueline, skated towards the middle and took a little wrist shot. It went in. I was kind of stunned for a second and then I realized I scored a goal and I was so excited. I was so happy. It was against Chris Terreri and the New Jersey Devils. I remember it like today. It was a good feeling."
The Slovakian sniper scored a dozen goals for Washington as a rookie in 1990-91. That would prove to be his lowest single-season total in his 14 seasons in a Capitals sweater, and the only season in which he failed to score as many as 20 goals.

"I was excited to have Mike Pivonka on the team at that time," he said of that first season. "He helped me out a lot with my language and the daily basics of life. He helped me out a lot with my career and I'm really thankful for that. He helped me to learn the game. It wasn't easy to adjust from the European style - the big ice rinks - to come to smaller rinks and try to play a little bit different game. He had a lot of influence on my career. Like I said, I'm really happy. I was really lucky to have him."
Bondra twice led the NHL in goals - in 1994-95 and in 1997-98 - and he finished his Caps career with 472 goals and 825 points in 961 games. He remains the franchise's all-time leader in goals and points, and he ranks second behind longtime teammate Calle Johansson on the team's all-time games played ledger.
As his career in Washington progressed, Bondra developed into a well-rounded player. He was used as a penalty killer, and was a constant threat to score shorthanded. Former Caps coach Ron Wilson moved Bondra to the point on the power play in 2000-01, and he responded by netting a franchise single-season record of 22 power play goals. His 32 career shorthanded tallies and his 137 power-play goals are both franchise marks that figure to stand for several more seasons.
That 2000-01 season - in which he scored 45 goals - was a watershed campaign. Early that season, the speedy right wing had asked for a trade. Capitals general manager George McPhee agreed to seek a trade for Bondra but was unable to find one that made sense. Ultimately, Bondra and the Caps smoothed over whatever differences they had, and he signed a four-year extension to remain in the District.
"Even when I asked for the trade, I had so much support from the crowd," he said proudly. "People were coming to games with those signs, 'Sign Bondra.' It was so nice. Even though I had tough times in my mind and a lot of thoughts about where I was going to be and stuff like that. It's nice to get that from the fans and I really appreciate that.
"That was one of the first indications that I wanted to stay here and I want to play here and I'm lucky that everything worked well and the team signed me. Hopefully everything will work out for both sides, for me and the team. I'm happy here and I'm glad I did that."
The shift to the power play point also reinvigorated Bondra.

"That was something exciting, something new for me," said Bondra, speaking of his move to the blueline on the power play. "I gained the confidence back from the coach, who put me in that position. When [Caps coach Ron Wilson] decided to do that, I was a little bit nervous. I remember, the first game we played was at Philly. I couldn't sleep all afternoon - for the pregame nap. I was so nervous about it. I was wondering how it was going to be and I was afraid to make some mistakes. But when the game went on I was more comfortable."
Washington's power play ranked fourth in the NHL in 2000-01, clicking at a rate of 21.2%. It stands as the team's best power play success rate in the past decade and a half.
Bondra's teammates and fans will ultimately remember him as an exciting player who was capable of lifting them out of their seats and creating a palpable buzz in the arena every time he touched the puck. They'll long remember No. 12 blazing down the left wing with speed and unleashing a hard shot that set off the red light and ensuing sirens, and then the celebrations that followed. Bondra's smile after he scored was one that made the red light dim in comparison.
He netted his 400th career goal with Washington in November, 2001. That tally put him in some lofty company. He joined Jari Kurri (601), his boyhood hero Peter Stastny (450), then-teammate teammate Jaromir Jagr and Alexander Mogilny as the only European-born and trained players to have exceeded the 400-goal level at the time.
"Are you serious?" he replied when informed of the other Europeans who had preceded him to the 400-goal plateau. "Wow. I didn't know that. It's great. I didn't realize it but that's a great number. When you tell me that it really feels good. But at the same time, I hope I have a lot of hockey left in my legs."
He still had a few years left as it turned out, and just enough gas in the tank to become one of only 30 players in NHL history to record 500 career goals. He reached that milestone as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks in 2006-07.

The Caps traded Bondra to Ottawa on Feb. 18, 2004, and he wound down his playing career with the Senators, Thrashers and Blackhawks. He finished with 503 goals and 892 points in 1,081 career NHL games.
"I never honestly had any dreams about playing in the NHL and everything came so fast," he told us some years back. "My brother [Juraj] had a big influence on me to become a hockey player. I remember he would pick me up after school and we went to skate at the pond pretty much every day. Where I grew up the winter was strong, there was a lot of snow and everything was pretty much all set for hockey or skiing."
Now, Bondra will once again follow in the footsteps of his countryman Stastny, replacing him as the GM of the Slovakian national team.
"Bonzai gave me a heads up probably a month ago that Slovakia had approached him about the GM job," says Caps goaltender Olie Kolzig. "He was just holding out to see if someone, especially Washington, would come and sign him, and it didn't work out that way. I was just glad to see him get his 500th goal. Being at 498 just didn't seem right, especially for as prolific a goal scorer as Bonzai was.
"I don't know if I played with a guy like him, maybe Ovie or [Alexander] Semin. But for a long time, he was the guy. He just had a knack to score. He enjoyed it, he loved it, he never hid it. Some people maybe misread him a little bit, but I really enjoyed the time I played with Bonzai."