Ilya Protas has been one of the best players in the CHL this year, recording 83 points (36g, 47a) through his first 47 games with the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires. Before being drafted by the Capitals and this season’s big breakthrough in junior, the 6-foot-5 Belorussian forward was already quite familiar with the team due to his older brother, Aliaksei, already being an established player on the club.
Through Aliaksei, the younger Protas met and hung out with several Capitals players, including Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov. He detailed the experience in an interview with Bet News’ Sergey Malyshko this past September.
“First of all, meeting my idols — Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov — it was nice to talk, great emotions,” Protas said as translated by Google Translate. “At first, I didn’t even believe that I was next to my idols. When Lesha (Aliaksei) was drafted, he said, like, we’ll go to dinner with them now. It was hard to believe that it was really happening.
“And now I’ve found myself in the same organization with them. Of course, my knees were a little shaky when we met, but I think that’s normal when you find yourself next to such masters. You realize that your dream has come true. I was also glad to see Lesha’s wife, Tanya, and my goddaughter. I spent a lot of time with Alisa.”
Protas made his first official appearance as an actual member of the Capitals at development camp this past summer. He later also attended rookie camp and the team’s main training camp. During his time in DC, he garnered a simple nickname, “Little Pro,” to help distinguish him from his older brother.
“Yes, that’s true,” Protas said. “I’ve also heard people call me Baby Pro, just Pro. They don’t think long about nicknames here. But in the development camp, the coaches have already started calling me Hammer like they did in Des Moines.”
Protas played his first season in North America, the 2023-24 campaign, in Iowa with the USHL’s Des Moines Buccaneers. He received the nickname “Hammer” from head coach Matt Curley, as Protas says Curley got tired of just calling him Ilya.
One of the next head coaches that Protas hopes to impress in the near future is Capitals bench boss Spencer Carbery. While he had likely already heard a ton about Carbery from his brother, Protas had his first real chance to meet with his potential future coach at the draft.
“He greeted me warmly, it was nice,” Protas said. “I had a smile on my face for probably two hours after I was drafted by Washington. Carbery was in a great mood, too. The coach wished me luck, said he was looking forward to working with me, and that I had a good benchmark in front of me.”
In September, Carbery later gave Little Pro his NHL preseason debut alongside his brother Aliaksei against the Boston Bruins. Due to their five-year age gap, the game was the first time the two had ever played on the same team in any setting.
Aliaksei and his 46 points (22g, 24a) in 55 games this season for the Capitals represent a great role model for his little brother, but Ilya has another European NHLer that he also looks up to. While Aliaksei is having his breakout year in the league this year, Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov has been a star for almost a decade.
Barkov, who won the Stanley Cup with the Panthers last season, recorded a career-high 96 points (35g, 61a) for Florida during the 2018-19 campaign and is known as one of the NHL’s premier two-way centers. The 29-year-old Finnish forward is a two-time NHL All-Star (2018, 2023), two-time Selke Trophy winner (2021, 2024), and one-time Lady Byng Memorial Trophy winner (2019).
“I really like the game of [Barkov],” Protas said. “He is a cool two-way forward who is equally good in attack and defense. He has an unusual technique. You can see that Barkov plays with an unusually long stick relative to his height. I am impressed by how he does it.”
Protas is scoring like Barkov in the OHL this season and is on an excellent Spitfires team that has already clinched a playoff spot and has a 37-12-3 record. During the preseason interview, the 18-year-old forward set a few goals he is well on the way to achieving.
“I want to win something,” Protas said. “I hope I can lift the cup with Windsor. Team interests are above all. But I also have a personal goal – I want to score 80-100 points. I think that would be a good result. If you want to achieve something, you need to set high goals for yourself.”
From a team perspective in the league, Windsor (77) only trails the London Knights (83) and Kitchener Rangers (79) in points. Individually, Protas is on pace to absolutely annihilate his previously set goals. He hit the 80-point mark and surpassed it by three with a four-point effort against the Sarnia Sting on Thursday night.
Protas is on pace to record 111 points (48g, 63a) if he plays in Windsor’s remaining 16 games. A 111-point OHL season would beat out age-18 results from NHLers like Matthew Tkachuk (107), Taylor Hall (106), Jason Spezza (105), John Tavares (104), Paul Coffey (102), Alex DeBrincat (101), Travis Konecny (101), Dave Andreychuk (100), Nick Suzuki (100), Mike Gartner (90), Jason Robertson (87), Vincent Trocehck (85), Justin Williams (83), and Todd Bertuzzi (82).
