Playing Career
Bonk was born in Czechoslovakia and began his hockey career playing for Slezan Opava in the Junior Czech league and Zlín in the Czech Extraliga. He moved to North America in 1993 with a goal of playing in the National Hockey League (NHL) and was signed by the International Hockey League (IHL)'s Las Vegas Thunder, with whom he spent the 1993–94 season as a 17-year-old. Bonk was an immediate sensation in the IHL and by the end of his first season of the North American brand of hockey he had registered 42 goals and 45 assists for 87 points in 76 games. NHL scouts took notice, and Bonk found himself at or near the top of all the top prospects lists for the 1994 NHL Entry Draft. Given his young age (17), size, and ability to quickly adapt to the more physical style of hockey in North America, Bonk became a "can't miss" prospect.
Bonk was drafted third overall by the Ottawa Senators in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft, the first forward selected. He returned to Las Vegas for the first half of the 1994–95 season while the NHL was shut down by the owners' lockout and registered 20 points in 33 games. His debut NHL season of 1994–95 was somewhat disappointing, and Bonk scored only 3 goals and 11 points in 42 games. His progress took some seasoning in his first five years of NHL hockey before he emerged as one of the league's most complete forwards by 1999–2000. He went on to play for the Senators for 10 seasons, eventually becoming the team’s #1 center under the tutelage of head coach Jacques Martin.
Bonk originally wore number 76 as a member of the Thunder and in his first two seasons in Ottawa, but switched to number 14 after new general manager Pierre Gauthier implemented a team rule prohibiting players from wearing "vanity numbers" (that is, numbers higher than the goaltenders). Thus, teammate Alexandre Daigle also switched to number 9 from his traditional 91.
A skilled player, Bonk was often criticized in the Ottawa media for his lack of aggression, despite his size. On the day of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings for a third round draft pick. The same day, he was traded to the Montreal Canadiens along with Cristobal Huet for Mathieu Garon and a third round selection in the 2004 draft. His most productive season points-wise was the 2001–02 NHL season when he produced 70 points for the Ottawa Senators.
On July 2, 2007, Bonk signed as a free agent with the Nashville Predators to a two-year contract.
On July 22, 2009, after 969 games in the NHL it was announced that Bonk agreed to a one-year contract with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl to continue his career in the Russian Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). After only seven games into the 2009–10 season, Bonk left Yaroslavl to return the Czech Republic with Oceláři Třinec in the Czech Extraliga on October 8, 2009. Radek posted 17 points in 39 games for the season with Oceláři to earn a two-year contract extension on May 2, 2010.
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