Alex Ovechkin putting on a lot of weight over the summer.

Washington Capitals star forward Alex Ovechkin has often boasted about the fact that he doesn't need to diet to remain in game shape when it comes to the National hockey League, but his less than ideal eating habits may finally be catching up to him at the age of 38.

A series of pictures and videos have begun to be widely shared on social media, all of which show Ovechkin hanging out and playing some volleyball with a group of friends. The pictures and the video would largely be unremarkable, except for the fact that they show Ovechkin sporting a bit of a gut. In the pictures and videos, Ovechkin appears to have put on a significant amount of weight in the offseason, which is telling given that the Capitals played their last game at the end of April.

It will be an even bigger concern to fans who saw Ovechkin's production take a significant dip this season, with the veteran Capitals forward often looking like he was cruising on the ice. That will be especially true for those who were hoping to see The Great 8 catch Wayne Gretzky on the NHL's all-time scoring list.

Ovechkin can be seen showing off his dad bod in a few pictures shared on the gribova_ira Instagram account:

What best shows off his new dad bod though is the video of him playing volleyball, where we can clearly see that Ovechkin has tacked on a few pounds.

Ovechkin still has a few months to go before the start of the next NHL regular season, and I fully expect that he will get himself back into game shape before that occurs.