I mean if we’re talking top 10 overall players, at least 3-4 are naturally going to be centers, and most people are going to list at least 2 defensemen and 2 goalies (certainly during the Hasek/Roy/Brodeur era that was necessary). That goes you 2-3 spots for wingers. From that era, you automatically go Jagr/Selanne/Kariya and you’re done. I don’t see it as a huge knock on Bondra that he can’t get on that list, considering Pavel Bure doesn’t make it either. It was just a strong era with a lot of established stars from different eras overlapping.
If you look at All Star ballots from that time period (imperfect, I know) Bondra was very consistently in the 4-6 range among RWs:
- Jagr was the no-contest #1
- Selanne was the consensus #2
- There was no clear cut #3/4, but a rotating cast of guys who had big years. At any given time it might be Fleury, Mogilny, Palffy, Amonte, Bure, Hull.
The tricky thing is, Bondra had a better body of work than any of those guys in the third category. I think it’s fully legitimate to call him the 3rd best RW of the late 90s — which isn’t quite good enough for a top-10 list, but is certainly good enough to be considered “elite” and at least given a thought for the HHOF.
The guy led the league in goals twice on a very mediocre team
Joe Juneau led the 94–95 Capitals in PPG over Bondra, both with the same amount of points but Juneau in a couple of fewer games. So yeah while his team wasn't a powerhouse, he still didn't even out-point his own line-mate that particular season.
Bondra had tremendous wheels and a nice shot, and was a very good player in his own niche, but I think strictly looking at RS goals scored over a particular window of time, and then trying to compare him to guys like say Bure, misses a ton of context. I think it's the same type of exercise where some people look at Fedorov's RS scoring in the late 90s and then reaches the conclusion that he either A) fell off a cliff, or B) stopped caring.
Bondra just had a playing style where he didn't engage himself a lot physically, and in a DPE context that saved him from a lot of injuries, and injuries can affect GPG in both directions if you have someone playing through it, and a lot of guys played through injuries around that time. Look at Neely where he got injured and didn't score a goal in his last 5 games of the 93–94 season, or Bure between 1995–1997 playing with knee and whiplash/neck injuries.
Jagr, Selänne, Bure and Kariya were significantly better than Bondra. Mogilny's best was also significantly better, but he also suffered serious injuries (broken leg) and was inconsistent. I think Fleury was better overall than Bondra. Neely probably too, at least in an NHL context, though I think he's still a bit overrated by some people. IMO Bondra comes along in the Keith Tkachuk group of players, also a guy who led the league in goal scoring once. I personally prefer Bondra in front of someone like Tkachuk, but I'm pretty low on Tkachuk. Markus Näslund is another name that pops up, but Näslund was more well-rounded.
