Blackhawks Sign Peter Bondra

[steg1989]

General Manager Dale Tallon announced today that the Blackhawks have signed forward Peter Bondra.

“He’s a proven goal scorer,” said General Manager Dale Tallon. “He’s a tremendously fit athlete who will add more speed and skill to our lineup. He will help our power play and his experience will greatly help our younger players.”

Bondra, 38, is a two-time 50+ goal scorer in the National Hockey League (52 goals in 1995-96 and 52 goals in 1997-98) and a five-time NHL All-Star (1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999). He is just two goals shy of reaching the 500 goal mark in his NHL career having scored 498 career goals to go with 380 assists for 878 points in 1,044 games.

Bondra was originally Washington’s 9th choice (156th overall) in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft. He played 13+ seasons for the Capitals before being traded to the Ottawa Senators in February of 2004 where he was a teammate of both Bryan Smolinski and Martin Havlat. Following the lockout season, he signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Thrashers in 2005-06.

Bondra has also represented his country of Slovakia in two Winter Olympic Games playing in both the 1998 and the 2006 games. In the 1998 Olympics, he appeared in 2 games and scored 1 goal. In the 2006 Winter Games, he played in 6 games and scored 4 goals.

In his NHL career, Bondra has also appeared in 80 playoff games scoring 30 goals to go with 26 assists for 56 points. His best playoff year was with Washington in 1997-98 when he appeared in 17 games and scored 7 goals to go with 5 assists for 12 points.

Bondra will be arriving in Chicago later this evening and will undergo a physical in the morning. He could see action as early as Tuesday night when the Blackhawks travel to St. Louis to take on the Blues.

[flyerfanatic]

Link please?

[duda.radek]

Great news, when I take a look at the Blackhawks roster he could be useful there

[vandymeer13]

This is good news hopefully they send Bochenski and St.Pierre down and bring up Low to protect players against other teams in the West. Now that Koci is healthy and fighting it's time to bring Low up. St.Pierre has been invisible and Bochenski I think will be good if you put him on the second or third line. But on the Fourth line he just isn't physical enough.

[OLLBLUEEYZ]

I can tell you most Hawk fans really like this signing. I for one, will wait and see.

[PhantomsSTH1977]

Good signing to make a playoff run. Veteran with Skills...can't hurt the team in my eyes.

[Isles4life]

I think it's a solid pickup. Get a little more offensive depth. Hopefully he's not totally washed up.

[Cat Smasher]

Good signing, Bondra wont be fatigued since he will essentially be playing a half season. And he says he wants to play a few more.

20 some odd goals last season, Havlat picked up right where he left off before his injury, this can only be good news for Chicago, although they still need a center or two with Handzus out and Ruutu being Ruutu.

[Cummins15]

Solid addition, hopefully Bondra and Havlat can build some chemistry for a possible playoff push.

[dtdc2k3]

i dont think that hes ever been the same sence he's left washington

[bustoff]

Good to see the Hawks at least improve their team which is more than I can say about the Blues.

[Isles4life]

Originally Posted by dtdc2k3

i dont think that hes ever been the same sence he's left washington

Of course, he was quite advanced in his career when he did leave Washington. He could've gone downhill there too.

[AVALANCHE FAN]

I dont see why Philly waived him in the first place,Bondra was far from being the only one not pulling his weight!

[JKidd]

Originally Posted by AVALANCHE FAN

I dont see why Philly waived him in the first place,Bondra was far from being the only one not pulling his weight!

You're right... that list of underacheivers in Philly is too long to even start.

Good move by the Hawks. Hopefully he doenst get hurt, like seemingly everyone else.

[Cat Smasher]

12 Minutes played, 1 PPG. His ice time will gradually increase as he gets into better game shape.

Bondra's next goal will be the 500th.

With Vrbata back and Hamilton playing well, they can now try and get two offensive lines.