It’s been a week since the Washington Capitals defeated the Vegas Golden Knights to win the Stanley Cup for the first time in their history, and the well-publicized celebrations are finally beginning to wind down.

Alex Ovechkin was the man leading those alcohol-fueled shenanigans off the ice, much like he led the Capitals on the ice on their run to a championship.

If anyone deserves to celebrate in such bombastic fashion, it’s Ovechkin. After years of people questioning whether or not he had what it took to earn a ring, his Conn Smythe Trophy-winning performance silenced those doubters forever.

Even if he never won a Stanley Cup, Ovechkin would have gone down as one of the all-time greats. But now, Ovechkin has firmly cemented his place as one of the true legends of the game.

I’m talking about the rarefied air inhabited by the likes of Gretzky, Lemieux, Howe, and, yes, Crosby.

The raw numbers speak for themselves: after a 49-goal, 87-point 2017-18 campaign, Ovechkin now has 607 career goals (19th all time) and 1,122 points (54th all time). And he’s done all that by the age of 32.

But when you consider how difficult it is to score goals in today’s NHL, Ovechkin’s achievements become even more remarkable. In a time when most players are lucky to score 40 goals in a season, Ovechkin has eclipsed the 50-goal mark seven times, a number to match his seven Rocket Richard Trophy wins for leading the NHL in goals.

In fact, Ovechkin’s average of 0.61 goals per game is sixth in NHL history behind only Mike Bossy, Mario Lemieux, Cy Denneny, Babe Dye, and Pavel Bure.

Even in the playoffs, where he has supposedly failed to show up, Ovechkin has put up big time numbers. If you throw out the 2018 playoffs, Ovechkin’s career postseason numbers still read like this: 97 games, 46 goals, 44 assists, 90 points. With his playoff-leading 27 points in 2018, Ovechkin’s career numbers in the postseason now stand at 61 goals, 56 assists, and 117 points in 121 games.

But beyond the numbers, it’s the way in which Ovechkin has played the game that has distinguished him from some of the other greats of his era.

His powerful shot, bruising checks, and fiery demeanor have made him among the most fascinating and entertaining players of his generation.

Finally getting the Stanley Cup-sized monkey off his back allows Ovechkin to avoid being lumped in with players like Dan Marino, Charles Barkley, and Karl Malone, all-time greats in their respective sports whose resumes will always carry the mark of not having won a championship.

Hockey is a bit different in that winning a title isn’t necessarily imperative to a player’s legacy: the influence that a great quarterback or basketball player can have far supersedes the impact of even the best hockey players in a given game.

But Ovechkin is different in that he has long been considered one of those rare players who was seen as good enough to carry a team to a championship, something his rival Sidney Crosby had already done three times.

Ovechkin didn’t simply ride his teammates’ coattails to a championship; he was clearly the team’s best and most important player, a feat that counts for a lot when you’re talking about legacies.

Henri Richard won a record 11 Stanley Cups while with the Montreal Canadiens, but only led the team in playoff scoring once out of those 11 postseason trips. Wayne Gretzky, on the other hand, was the Edmonton Oilers’ leading playoff scorer in each of their four Stanley Cup-winning runs while he was on the team.

Ovechkin can now move forward without the daunting weight of not having won a Stanley Cup hanging over his head. Entering his age-33 season, you figure he has at least three or four prime seasons left, not to mention a few at least average seasons for good measure.

He should clear 700 career goals with ease, and it seems likely that he’ll join Gretzky and Gordie Howe in the 800-goal club.

To break Gretzky’s record of 894 career goals, Ovechkin would need to play seven more years while averaging about 41 goals per season. Considering his current career pace of 50 goals per season, it’s far from an impossibility.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. For now, we ought to sit back and enjoy the play of one of the true greats of the game of hockey.