Capitals’ Alyakse Protas looks to build on breakout season – Hockey Writer – Washington Capitals

Washington Capitals center Alyakse Protas is a rising star. He caught the attention of the entire NHL last season with 30 goals and 66 points, finishing third on the team in scoring while amassing an impressive +40 rating.

The 6-foot-6 center benefited from playing the first six minutes of last season and the chance to play alongside Pierre-Luc Dubois, who is set to make his career comeback in 2024-25. He also benefited from an unusually high field goal percentage, as did many of the Capitals’ top-six forwards, with his 21.1 percent field goal percentage ranking eighth among 370 full-time NHL forwards.

Most impressively, Protas’ offensive breakout came during a season in which he established himself as one of the league’s best defensive forwards. He received two fourth-place votes and three fifth-place votes in the 2025 Selke Cup. For a player on hiatus with little time on the power play, scoring 30 goals in a season is quite a statement.

The road to NHL success is long

Protas was selected by the Capitals in the third round with the 91st overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft. A native of Belarus, he was drafted out of the Western Hockey League (WHL) and played two seasons for the Prince Albert Raiders. Protas was selected by the Raiders with the 26th overall pick in the 2018 Canadian Hockey League (CHL) Import Draft. In 2019-20, his second season in North America, he led all European players with 31 goals and 80 points in 58 games.

The Capitals have struggled to manage the development paths of their young forwards, especially with much of North America suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the 2020-21 season, Protas was loaned to Dynamo Minsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), where he had the opportunity to play with and against older pros before joining the Capitals’ American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Hershey Bears, for the remainder of the season.

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Protas split time between Hershey and Washington during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, playing 58 games for the Capitals in the 2022-23 season. With the Capitals missing the 2023 playoffs, Protas returned to the Bears and helped the team win their 12th Calder Cup championship.

breakout season

In his first full season in Washington in 2023-24, Protas scored six goals and 29 points for the Capitals while averaging just under 14 minutes per game. In January 2024, he signed a five-year contract extension worth approximately $3.4 million per year.

“This is a huge honor. I’m very proud,” Protas said. “This team, this organization believed in me. They gave me an opportunity to chase my dream and fulfill my dream of playing in the NHL. They believed in me, they supported me, and that’s really important to me. Now, I just have to continue to work harder to prove that I’m worthy of putting on this jersey every night.”

Expectations are high for the Protas heading into the 2024-25 season, with room for a top-six finish and a new contract worth fulfilling. Coaches and management are expecting improvement, but no one is expecting 30 goals. When asked if he thought he could score that many points in the NHL, he joked, “Maybe on Xbox, like in NHL 2025.”

strong work ethic

Protas’ coach attributes his success to his hard work on and off the ice. He worked hard to improve his skating and shooting and never seemed to miss an option skate. He entered the draft weighing only 179 pounds, but has gained a lot of weight and muscle and is currently listed by the league at 250 pounds.

“This is a guy who works hard every day and is a third-round pick in the American Hockey League,” Capitals head coach Spencer Carberry said. “Just do everything well. Work hard, want to get better, take coaching, all that stuff.”

Protas has been working with Capitals skating coach Wendy Mako for a few years, and his prioritizing skating during the offseason clearly paid off. In 2024-25, he ranked 92nd among all NHL skaters with a top skate speed of 23.18 mph. His speed topped 20 mph and ranked in the 87th percentile.

“I’m telling you, he’s just scratching the surface of his career in this league,” Carberry said. “He’s a good horse, he’s such a big guy, skates so well and will now run in the powerplay this year. He has a bright future.”

Protas has not been on the power play for most of his time with the Capitals, which makes his recent offensive production even more impressive. He has been heavily relied upon for his consistent performance in penalty shootouts over the past two seasons and led the team to three shorthanded goals last season. Early indications are that he will get more time with the Capitals’ second team in 2025-26.

Hot start to 2025-26

Protas continued his career at the start of the 2025-26 season, scoring four goals and eight points in the first seven games. All of his goals were of the same intensity, with a shooting percentage of 22.2%, which was even higher than last season’s hot shooting percentage.

“[He’s] “This was made in a lab,” Capitals rookie Ryan Leonard said. “It’s crazy. We all say he’s the best player in the league, so this is special. He’s a special player.”

Protas was a big part of the Capitals’ early-season success, helping the Capitals rise from No. 11 to No. 6 in the NHL Power Rankings by CBS Sports.

CBS’s Austin Nivision commented: “Aliaksei Protas seems determined to build on his 66 points last season, scoring eight points in his first seven games. Protas is 6-foot-6, 250 pounds and his performance when he comes on is a joy to watch. I recommend going to some Capitals games as soon as possible.”