Wearing 21 in honor of his father?

Friday, June 4th the KHL held its second annual draft and Peter Bondra’s son David Bondra, was selected 21st overall by Metallurg Magnitogorsk (don’t confuse Magnitogorsk with Metallurg Novokuznetsk, where Dmitri Orlov plays). Bondra was available in last year’s draft but was never selected.

Bondra currently plays for the Washington Jr Nationals of the Atlantic Junior Hockey League (the 3rd level of US junior hockey). According to AJHL official site, current South Carolina Stingray Nikita Kashirsky (who’s also Ovi’s childhood friend) have played for the club. A few highlights of David’s season thus far include him being named an AJHL All-Star and netting a goal in the game. He finished 14th overall in scoring (22 G, 29 A in 40 GP) during the AJHL season and was named to the Slovakian U-18 National Team.

His father, the Capitals’ current franchise leader in points and goals, recently spoke about his son in an interview with the Russian newspaper «Sport Den Za Dnem» (Sports Daily):

Q: Your son David isn’t a leader of his age’s National Team.
A: He works hard, but sometimes his surname interferes with him [smiling]… And sometimes opponents give much more attention to him than to other players. But Jr. Bondra is still at an age where the most important games are still ahead of him. I believe in him and hope you’ll hear his name in the future.

Q: Will Jr. Bondra be able to break all his father’s NHL records?
A: I think if he continues to work hard, he’ll be a good player. We spend a lot of time personally with him talking about hockey, watching games together and analyzing the sport.

Special Notes: In today’s draft, Lokomotiv selected NHL Superstar John Tavares with the 184th overall pick in hopes that they could lure him to Russia. Moments after the selection, the KHL voided the pick in respect of Tavares’ pact with the New York Islanders. Uh, bizarre.