#1 Peter Bondra
Peter Bondra deserves to have his number retired next. It’s odd the Washington Capitals haven’t done that yet but he does get the distinct honor of finishing number one in our top 5 right wingers of all time.
Bondra was drafted in the eighth round at 156th overall in the 1990 NHL Draft. He scored 12 goals in his rookie season. He added 28 his second year. In his third season, Bondra broke out and scored 37 goals and 85 points. Despite these impressive numbers we still hadn’t seen Bondra’s best game but that came the next season.
In a contest against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Bondra scored five goals on Feb. 5, 1994. Four of those goals came in the first period.
Bondra led the league with 52 goals and 13 game winning goals in Washington’s run to the Stanley Cup Final in 1997-98. In the playoffs he had seven goals and five assists including a clutch goal in overtime of Game 3 in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Buffalo Sabres that gave the Caps a 2-1 series lead.
Bondra’s numbers dipped the next two seasons from 31 to 21 goals but he rebounded the next year with 45 goals including a league leading 22 on the power play.
Those are our top 5 right wingers in franchise history.