Career goals:
Bondra: 503 (39th best all time)
Bure: 437 (63rd best all time)
Rocket Richard Trophy
Bondra: 2 (retroactive)
Bure: 2
Others in the top ten in that era include Keith Tkachuk (359), Teemu Selanne (351), John Leclair (334), Brendan Shanahan (334), Mats Sundin (330), Brett Hull (328), Joe Sakic (327) and Ziggy Palffy (318).
Bondra and Bure are comparable players. They are both known for their explosive goal scoring and for their skating. Both were specialty teams specialists, although I might argue Bondra was a more complete player in terms of defensive play especially at even strength. Neither won a championship. Neither were named to a post-season all star team. Both were two time Olympians and arguably the best player from their nations during their career. The biggest difference was Bure was flamboyant and spectacular, while Bondra was quiet and efficient.
For many years I witnessed Bure closely. I never had the same up close view of Bondra, so I turned to J.P. at Japer's Rink, the top Washington Capitals blog, for his impressions of Bondra. Here's what he had to say:
To me, there are any number of reasons a player can be legitimately Hall of Fame-worthy, but one of the questions I always find myself asking is, "Was he a truly dominant player for a decent period of time?" And Bondra was. Over the course of four seasons - 1994-95 through 1997-98 - he led the NHL in goals scored (despite playing fewer games than anyone who finished within 40 goals of him), leading the League in two of those seasons. He had the big years, he had the milestones (500 goals in the dead-puck era, 1,000 games played), and he should be heading to the Hall.
Neither I or J.P. think Peter Bondra will get into the Hall of Fame in 2010 unless he's waiting in line to buy an admission pass like we will have to. I think Bondra will, rightly or wrongly, probably be made to wait a long time before induction, and he may not get in at all.
That, I do know, is a real shame.
2 comments:
I think one item that put Bondra off the radar for a long time was his low position in the entry draft. And that he played for the Capitals. Both items made him rather invisible to the national media.
a few errors:
1. bure actually had two rocket richard trophies and one retroactive one (60 goals in '93-'94)
2. bure was a post-season all-star three times, first team in '93-'94 and second team both '99-'00 and '00-'01.
bondra may have ended up playing more games and thus scoring more goals, but i think the points above show that bure was more deadly. after all, bure is one of only four players (along with bossy, mario, and ovechkin) to average 50 or more goals a season over their career. bondra only equaled or eclipsed bure's career scoring average there times in his entire career.
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