The Washington Capitals locked up one of the few young roster pieces they have long term on Friday night. Aliaskei Protas, 23, became just the second player on the team to be under contract through the 2028-29 season when he put pen to paper on a five-year extension with the team.
Saturday night’s matchup with the St. Louis Blues will be Protas’ first since inking his new deal. Capitals senior editor Mike Vogel spoke with the big Belorussian pregame in the latest edition of the team’s Rinkside Update video series.
The two discussed Protas’ reaction to his extension, his newfound security within the organization, and how the 2019 third-round draft selection has grown as a player over the past few seasons.
“I’m so proud that this team and this organization believed in me and gave me a chance to chase my dreams.”@VogsCaps is joined by Aliaksei Protas to chat about the forward’s recent five-year re-up to his contract with Washington.#CapsBlues | @MedStarHealth pic.twitter.com/NVR7suHqvQ
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 20, 2024
“It’s a big honor,” Protas said. “I’m so proud. This team, this organization believed in me. They give me chance to chase my dreams and to reach my dream to play in the NHL. They trust me, they support me, and that’s a really big one for me. Now, I just have to keep working even harder to prove that I deserve to wear this jersey every night.”
The 2023-24 campaign has been a breakout year for Protas. In 42 games this season, he has recorded 18 points (3g, 15a). Seventeen of those points have come at five-on-five which leads the Capitals. He is skating on average 13:02 of ice time per game, a new career-high.
Protas spent parts of the previous two seasons with the Capitals but this season is his first as a full-time member of the NHL squad. The 2023-24 campaign is only his third as a professional playing solely in North America after he started 2020-21 in the KHL with Dinamo Minsk.
Protas moved to the AHL’s Hershey Bears, coached by Spencer Carbery, later that year and hasn’t looked back since. He has steadily improved every season since and culminated his minor-league journey as a major contributor of the Bears’ 2023 Calder Cup championship team.
“Two and a half pro years now in North America has been unbelievable for me,” Protas said. “I met some really good coaches, some really good players. I’ve been around unbelievable groups of guys. It’s what has helped me grow up as a player, as a person. I will work and continue to get better on and off the ice. It’s been a really good couple of years in terms of just getting used to North America and being around great guys. That’s number one, I think.”
Carbery, Protas’ first North American pro coach, spoke about the forward’s growth and evolution in his own pregame media availability.
“First and foremost, just really proud and happy for him and his family,” Carbery said. “He’s worked very hard for a long, long time, way before I had ever met him to reach the dream of playing in the NHL. He takes his craft so seriously and he works at it. He’s really coachable, too. People like that, you want to see them have success and not just from the team perspective but individually you want to see them rewarded.
“Protas is a prime example of that and probably an example I’ll use for the rest of my life. His game has come such a long way from when he first came over to North America. Even just in the small sample size, I remember when he came to play his first game at Hershey and to see where his game is now at the NHL Level. Just been a phenomenal maturation, learning, taking coaching, and improving in the areas that he needed to improve in. Now, he’s a bonafide NHL player.”
Protas says that his maturation process is far from over though. After a month of December where he finished with nine points (1g, 8a) in his last 12 games, Protas has gone without a point in nine straight games in January.
Protas believes that he needs to start taking those scoring issues into his own hands more. Of his 18 points this season, just three are goals.
“[I want to improve in] every area of the game,” Protas said. “I feel like I can get better in terms of compete level, getting stronger. For sure, as every forward, I want to score goals. You want to try and find the ways to score way more. I’m not really happy with that right now. I think I can get way better.”
Protas’ line, also featuring Connor McMichael and Anthony Mantha, was the Capitals’ best trio throughout the entirety of December. However, they have massively slowed down since the calendar flipped into 2024.
In the nine January games, with them on the ice at five-on-five, the Capitals are seeing just 50.9 percent of the shot attempts, 47.9 percent of the expected goals, 50 percent of the scoring chances, and 44.7 percent of the high-danger chances. The team has also been outscored 4-0 during those minutes.
Carbery seems keen to stick with them through this troubling period as other lines around them are gelling. They’ll get their first chance at righting the ship against the Blues on Saturday night.
