{"id":103249,"date":"2025-07-29T22:55:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T22:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/103249\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T22:55:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T22:55:10","slug":"capitals-legend-peter-bondra-jokes-about-alex-ovechkin-breaking-all-of-his-records-i-thought-the-train-would-stop-but-he-ran-right-through-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/103249\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitals legend Peter Bondra jokes about Alex Ovechkin breaking all of his records: \u2018I thought the train would stop, but he ran right through me\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington Capitals legend Peter Bondra<\/strong> played his final season with the Caps during the 2003-04 campaign when he was dealt to the Ottawa Senators at the trade deadline as part of a massive sell-off. The team\u2019s choice to rebuild under then-GM George McPhee led to them finishing with their worst record in 26 years and the third-best odds in the 2004 NHL Draft Lottery, eventually winning the first overall pick.<\/p>\n

With that selection, the Capitals changed the trajectory of their franchise forever by selecting Alex Ovechkin<\/strong>. The high-scoring Russian winger shattered all expectations over the next two decades, pushing to another level above Bondra, leading the Caps to their first-ever Stanley Cup, and breaking Wayne Gretzky\u2019s all-time goals record.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Ovechkin came to Washington, he took all my records,\u201d Bondra recently joked with Sportovy\u2019s Marian Korbel<\/a>, per a translation by Google Translate. \u201cI thought the train would stop, but he ran right through me, like through Kysak (a village in Slovakia), where the train does not stop. But records are meant to be rewritten. It was a big deal not only for Ovechkin but for the entire NHL.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Bondra wrapped up his 14 seasons with the Capitals, he departed as the franchise\u2019s leader in goals (472), points (825), power play goals (137), shorthanded goals (32), even strength goals (303), game-winning goals (73), playoff goals (30), shots on goal (3,290), and hat tricks (19).<\/p>\n

Now, 21 years later, he is the owner of just one of those records, topped in every other category by Ovechkin.<\/p>\n

Ovechkin vs. Bondra<\/p>\n\nCapitals totals
\nOvechkin
\nBondra
\n<\/tr>\n\nGoals<\/td>\n897<\/td>\n472<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nPoints<\/td>\n1,623<\/td>\n825<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nPower play goals<\/td>\n326<\/td>\n137<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nShorthanded goals<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n32<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nEven strength goals<\/td>\n566<\/td>\n303<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nGame-winning goals<\/td>\n136<\/td>\n73<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nPlayoff goals<\/td>\n77<\/td>\n30<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nShots<\/td>\n6,864<\/td>\n3,290<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nHat tricks<\/td>\n32<\/td>\n19<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Bondra has always been supportive<\/a> of Ovechkin rewriting the franchise\u2019s record books and achieving new high-water marks for the Capitals. The Slovak sniper is still employed by the organization, working with the club as the head of their alumni association and participating in marketing and commercial efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI work with Washington\u2019s sponsors and partners,\u201d Bondra said. \u201cSo my work is mainly during NHL games, and I also manage the Capitals\u2019 alumni association. We do two or three events a year, for example, Richard Zednik has been to America. These are mainly charity events, and it\u2019s an interesting job. This season was very successful for the organization, the 50th anniversary of the club\u2019s founding was celebrated, the Capitals advanced to the playoffs, and captain Ovechkin broke Gretzky\u2019s historic scoring record.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Ovechkin may have pushed him a rung below in every Capitals\u2019 offensive statistic, Bondra is still one of the greatest players ever to throw on a Capitals jersey. The club\u2019s owner, Ted Leonsis, spoke last year<\/a> about how the franchise has plans to honor Bondra once the ongoing renovations to Capital One Arena are complete.<\/p>\n

No Capitals player since the 2005-06 season has worn Bondra\u2019s 12 on the back of their jersey, but the team has yet to officially retire the number.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Washington Capitals legend Peter Bondra played his final season with the Caps during the 2003-04 campaign when he…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":103250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-103249","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114938991387708627","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}