Home / News / Capitals activate Nic Dowd from injured reserve, send Aliaksei Protas back to Hershey

Capitals activate Nic Dowd from injured reserve, send Aliaksei Protas back to Hershey

By Ian Oland

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November 4, 2021 5:15 pm

The Washington Capitals play the 8-0-1 Florida Panthers tonight. Ahead of the game, they got some good news.

Fourth-line center Nic Dowd was removed from injured reserve and will play. In a corresponding roster move, the Capitals sent rookie pivot Aliaksei Protas back down to Hershey.

The lines will look like this.

Dowd practiced with the Capitals fully on Wednesday and said afterward he felt like he was good to go.

Dowd originally he suffered his injury against the Ottawa Senators two weeks ago. Dowd appeared to reaggravate the lower-body issue during practice on Friday and was out since. He missed three of the last four games.

Protas, in his NHL debut, took eight shifts and received only 3:53 of ice time.

Ilya Samsonov will get the start in net.

Here’s the full press release from the Capitals:

Capitals Re-assign Aliaksei Protas to Hershey

Nic Dowd Activated from Injured Reserve

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals have re-assigned center Aliaksei Protas to the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League (AHL) and activated center Nic Dowd from the Injured Reserve list, senior vice president and general manager Brian MacLellan announced today.

Protas, 20, made his NHL debut on Monday in Tampa Bay. Prior to his recall, Protas recorded four points (1g, 3a) in six games with Hershey this season.

The 6’6″, 225-pound center recorded 18 points (10g, 8a) in 58 regular season games with Dinamo Minsk during the 2020-21 season. The Vitebsk, Belarus, native tied for fifth on the team in goals and tied for eighth in points, despite ranking 15th in time on ice per game (12:52) among Dinamo Minsk skaters with at least 30 games played. Protas was re-assigned to Hershey on March 18 and made his AHL debut on March 31. He recorded seven points (2g, 5a) in 16 games with Hershey. Additionally, Protas represented Belarus at the 2021 IIHF World Championship, recording two assists in six games.

Protas spent the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons with the Prince Albert Raiders of the Western Hockey League (WHL), where he recorded a combined 120 points (42g, 78a) in 119 games.

Protas finished the 2019-20 season with 80 points (31g, 49a) in 58 games and ranked ninth in the WHL in points. He became the third European player in Prince Albert’s history to record 80 points, joining Leon Draisaitl (2013-14: 105 points) and Milan Kraft (1998-99: 86 points).

Protas led Prince Albert in goals, assists, points, plus/minus (37) and game-winning goals (7) in 2019-20, while incurring eight penalty minutes, the fewest among the league’s top-50 scorers. Protas was selected to the WHL’s Eastern Conference First All-Star Team and was named the WHL Eastern Conference Most Sportsmanlike Player of the Year.

The Capitals selected Protas with their third round pick, 91st overall, in the 2019 NHL Draft.

Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB

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