Devante Smith-Pelly was honored by the greatest hockey player in NHL history, Wayne Gretzky, on Thursday.

In a video for the NHL, Gretzky described DSP as the “unlikely hero” of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Video

The 2018 @Capitals featured plenty of stars, but Devante Smith-Pelly's (@smithpelly23) performance will never be forgotten.

Wayne Gretzky breaks down this Unlikely Hero of the #StanleyCup Playoffs. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/0O5HATaoTC

— NHL (@NHL) September 17, 2020

Here are Gretzky’s full comments on DSP.

Wayne Gretzky: Today’s unlikely hero of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is a role player on who proved pivotal when the Washington Capitals won their franchise’s first Stanley Cup in 2018. When you have a superstar like Alex Ovechkin on your team, you know he’ll usually get the headlines. But winning in the National Hockey League requires contributions from up and down the roster and Devante Smith-Pelly delivered.

Washington became Smith-Pelly’s fourth organization when he signed a one-year contract in July of 2017. Playing primarily on the Capitals’ fourth line, Smith-Pelly’s seven playoff goals matched his regular-season total. His trio of tallies in the Final included the tying-goal in the Game Five series clincher.

Smith-Pelly’s seven goals that year in the playoffs were fourth-most on the Capitals, tying him with another unlikely hero, Lars Eller, who scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal in Game Five. Only Alex Ovechkin (15), Evgeny Kuznetsov (12), and TJ Oshie (8) scored more goals than the Scarborough, Ontario native.

Smith-Pelly rejoined the Capitals for one more year in 2018-19 before spending the 2019-20 season with the KHL’s Kunlun Red Star.

He will never have to buy a drink in this town ever again.

Screenshot courtesy of @NHL