Ilya Protas will make his NHL debut for the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night.
Head coach Spencer Carbery has the 19-year-old center slated to start in the team’s top six on a line with his older brother, Aliaksei Protas, and alternate captain Tom Wilson. Protas skated with the two for the first time at practice on Wednesday morning.
“It’s a childhood dream come true,” Protas said after the skate. “It’s just unbelievable. I couldn’t believe for a second. I was shaky for a bit. It’s special, for sure. I can’t wait until tomorrow.”
Protas heads into his NHL debut after playing just 66 games at the pro level for the AHL’s Hershey Bears this season, during which he recorded 62 points (28g, 34a). He departed the AHL with a four-point lead over Quinn Hutson for the league’s rookie scoring lead this year and also ranks sixth in overall AHL scoring, the only rookie placed in the top 10.
With just four games remaining on their regular-season slate, the Capitals were running out of time to give Protas his debut this year, but he says that process wasn’t weighing on his mind.
“I mean, it’s just cool to be here,” Protas said. “Obviously, you’re thinking about it because it’s your childhood dream, but you don’t want to force it. You know your time is going to come, and you just got to focus on the next day, next game, next practice, and step by step. That’s what I was doing in Hershey.”
Carbery has been open about his desire to see Protas in a game this year and spoke about why the team finally decided to go through with his recall this week.
“I think a couple factors play in, the obvious one being the season that he’s having and how well he’s played of late through this last stretch, but ultimately through the entire season,” Carbery said. “So, his play, and then the second part, I think, would be, with where we’re at, we’re still fighting and hanging on to stay in this race. I think his coming in at this moment for our team could potentially give us a jolt of energy.”
Carbery spoke about what he hopes to see from Protas in terms of playing alongside two of the Capitals’ top-five-on-five players, the elder Protas and Wilson. The hulking trio of forwards are all at least 6-foot-4-inches tall and weigh at least 225 pounds.
“Basically, trying to make him as comfortable as possible. and give us some balance with three lines,” Carbery said. I think the insulation in him being able to communicate with his brother and his brother helping him through, and then also Willy’s a really easy winger to play with.”
While Wilson may be easy to play with, Protas thinks lining up next to one of the NHL’s most talked-about players is a bit of a daunting task. “I feel like I’m more nervous to play with him than my brother,” he said.
Carbery also elaborated on what he believes Protas has done this season inside his game to make him an NHL option for the Capitals so early in his career.
“What he’s shown in the past is that he’s a good 200-foot centerman who is really intelligent, skates really well for a bigger guy,” Carbery said. “I think where I’m curious to see and what he’s demonstrated at the American League level is he’s shown a knack for being able to get in and around the net, make small plays, run a half wall on a power play. His skill at creating offense five-on-five and on the power play has been really elite.
“I don’t want to put too much pressure on him or try to overstate, but what he’s accomplished in the American Hockey League this year from a production standpoint is up there. When you start to look at points per game, his age, all that stuff, it’s really, really impressive.”
Protas concurred with his new bench boss’s evaluation, also crediting the steps he has taken to become a more complete player.
“I think it’s my 200-foot game, responsibility on three zones on the ice, and that’s what I was kind of learning and developing down there,” Protas said. “It was great because we have really good coaching staff, and they helped me with everything, and I was watching a lot of clips, just to get better every day, and I think the most improvement is in the 200-foot game.”
Protas will play his first game against the Toronto Maple Leafs at 7:30 pm on Wednesday. Whether he sticks with the Capitals after that will probably remain up in the air, as the Bears have two crucial games next weekend to determine their playoff positioning in the AHL’s Atlantic Division.
