Alex Ovechkin Does NOT Need A Stanley Cup To Make Him One Of The Greatest Of All Time

AP Photo/Nick Wass

This has got to stop. I don't know how we got here but at some point in sports history we decided that to be one of the greatest players in any sport you have to win championships. If you're an all time player but you win zero championships this attitude tells us you will be forgotten. Lost among the greats who have won a championship or two.

It may be true for some but it won't be true for Alex Ovechkin. According to Joe McDonald of ESPN he says "unless he wins a Stanley Cup, Ovechkin's career numbers won't matter." I believe I speak for a lot of Washington Capitals fans when I say, give me a big fat ESPN sized break.

This ESPN writer did mention Ovechkin's current career stats which are impressive enough. But allow me to go further. Instead of stopping at where we are now lets move ahead five or six years. Then the readers of this can decide whether or not Ovechkin needs a team trophy to cement himself as one of the best of all time.

Lets start with something that doesn't get mentioned as much but equally important, Ovechkin's durability. Unlike Sidney Crosby who could have played 880 games in his career so far he has played just 713.

Unlike Evgeni Malkin who could have played around 798 games has only played 656 career games.

Ovechkin has played 850 games out of a possible, wait for the drum roll, 879 games. Comparing Ovechkin to some of the greats of today Crosby has missed 167 games and Malkin has missed 142 games.

According to this ridiculous argument though Malkin will end of a better player all time because he has two Stanley Cups. Not considering Malkin who has played in 10+ seasons has only scored over 30 goals four times. Since Malkin scored 50 goals in 2011-12 his high goal total for a season is just 28. Lets see if Malkin is able to get to 600 career goals while Ovechkin has his eyes much higher than that.

Now we can move onto career game winning goals. Ovechkin already sits in the top twenty in this stat with his 91 winners. Who does he already sit above? Mike Gartner who played 1,432 games and scored 708 career goals. Ovechkin is above Luc Robitaille who scored 89 game winners in 1,431 games while also scoring 668 career goals. Keep going down this list and Ovechkin is ahead of some impressive names who have played well over 1,000 career games.

Ovechkin has not played 1,000 games. He's at just 850. Throughout his career Ovechkin has averaged about 7, 8 or 9 game winners. This season, just 11 games in he already has 3. So lets give Alex just 5 more. That would put him at 8 for the season and 96 in his career. Give him that many and he passes Wayne Gretzky, Mark Recchi, Jeremy Roenick, Mike Modano, Mark Messier, Sergei Fedorov, Patrick Marleau (even though he'll likely score a few more in his career), Joe Nieuwendyk and Steve Yzerman. He would also tie Mats Sundin.

Again all of those greats have well over 1,000 games played. When Ovechkin is done with that stat this season he'll be just over 900 career games.

Jaromir Jagr is the pace setter right now with 133 career game winners. If Ovechkin continues at his goal scoring pace that is not out of reach. Even if Jagr continues to set the record top two isn't a bad place to settle.

Skip on over to power play goals. Ovechkin has scored 197 PPG's in his career. Already good enough for 19th in NHL history. This season he has 2 PPG's so lets just give him 13 more which means he would end up with 15 which quite frankly would be a little low for him but lets just go on the low side here. If he did end up with 13 more he would have 210 power play goals which would put him up to 13th all time tying him with Jagr (again he'll score more before he's done). Among the names Ovechkin would pass in this category are Recchi, Yzerman, Gretzky and Sakic.

If Ovechkin did end up with 210 after this season give him three more season of 15 and he would end up with 255. You know where that would put him? Top 3. The only remaining names are Brett Hull at 265 and Dave Andreychuk at 274. I'm just giving Ovechkin THREE seasons at 15 which is a very low total for him. What if he does six more years at 20?

And last but not least, total goals scored. We can talk about game winning goals, power play goals, shorthanded goals, power play points or any stat you want but at the end of the days this is what Ovechkin does, score goals.

Right now Ovi has 532 career goals. At just age 31 Ovechkin is already 33rd all time in goals scored. If you want go ahead and look at the people he has already beaten because there are already some names that you'll know.

Ovechkin is a perennial 40 goal scorer and can easily score 50 goals a season. In a time where goals are hard to score Ovechkin doesn't seem to have that many issues.

So lets go low again. Just give the great eight 30 more goals this season. That would mean he finishes this season at 37. That would give Ovechkin 562 and top 25 in NHL history. That would put him ahead of Keith Tkachuk, Maurice "Rocket" Richard, Ron Francis, Guy Lafleur, and Mike Modano.

How many goals could he end up with? Of all the stats mentioned before this one is the hardest to estimate. It depends on how long Ovechkin plays or plays in the NHL. There has been rumors Ovechkin would like to return home to Russia to finish his career. How many years does that give him in the NHL at 31 years old? Well there is really no telling.

Ovechkin does have five years remaining on his current contract so I'd assume he has that many years AT LEAST. So give him the 37 goals like I said earlier to put him at 562 then you have to guess he'd have what, say two 40 goal seasons and three 30 goal seasons. That's 180 more goals which would put him up to 742. That would be in the top 5 behind only Gretzky, Howe, and Jagr.

And again I went low. Ovechkin could easily score 50 goals for years to come. What if he scored 50 goals for three more years and scored 40 goals one more time to end his current contract?

Ovechkin will be as great as he wants to be. If he wants to go home at age 37 and finish his career good for him. But as long as Ovechkin stays at an elite level and can play for another 8, 9 or 10 seasons in the NHL he can become one of only three players ever to score 800+ career NHL goals.

Does all that mean nothing if he can't win a Stanley Cup? Does that mean as fans and writers and coaches and managers that we were watching just an OK player? Does that mean he's just a good player who couldn't win a team trophy?

If Ovechkin retired or left the NHL right now or after this season we can make that argument. But in just a couple of more NHL seasons Ovechkin is going to turn his ok stats into easy hall of fame stats. In the next few years Ovechkin is going to take his name and put it in some very exclusive clubs.

This stupid argument needs to stop. The Super Bowl is a team championship. LeBron James can't win an NBA title on his own. You need a team to win a World Series not just one pitcher or batter. The same goes for hockey.

Will it be a major disappointment for the Washington Capitals and their fans if they can't win a Stanley Cup with Alex Ovechkin? Obviously. But can you seriously sit back and say Ovechkin's individual stats when his career is all said and done will means NOTHING?

If you think that just stop watching sports and stop watching the NHL. What you should do is sit back and marvel at one of the greatest players that has ever hit the ice and don't worry about his legacy if he can't win a TEAM championship.