The Washington Capitals are regularly a “heavy” team to play against, but they will be even more so on Wednesday night.
Ilya Protas is slated to make his NHL debut against the Toronto Maple Leafs, skating on a line between his older brother Aliaksei Protas and Tom Wilson. The three hulking forwards are all at least 6-foot-4-inches tall, with the two Protas brothers standing 6-foot-6. The line weighs a combined 700 pounds.
“I think it’s going to be the heaviest line in the league,” Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin said pregame. “I think so, right? Yeah, so good luck.”
A few other members of the Capitals’ roster echoed Ovechkin’s comments when asked to give their thoughts on the humongous trio. The three are set to be Washington’s second line against the Maple Leafs.
“In my opinion, Willy is the most soft one on that line, right?” goaltender Logan Thompson joked. “It’s exciting. I’m really happy for Little Pro; he’s earned it. He’s going to show Tom up, I think, today, on that line. I’m really excited to see all three of them out there.”
“That’s like 15 of myself,” defenseman Rasmus Sandin added to Sportsnet’s Luke Fox. For math’s sake, it’s actually only 3.7 Sandins.
The unique combination of size even had Maple Leafs head coach and former Capitals forward Craig Berube considering a return to the ice.
“Well, I said I’m going to have to suit up tonight to match the size,” Berube said. “And I’m going to be a little smaller than those three boys. That’s a heavy line. That’s a big line, so it’ll be interesting to see.”
Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery also commented on his decision to give the rookie Protas a relatively big assignment in his debut and on why the spot should make his first steps in the NHL easier.
“I mean, you’re hoping that they’re going to be real difficult with their size, strength, length, ability to hold onto pucks,” Carbery said. “Big Pro and Willy have played together a lot over the last three years, so any centerman that we put in there for the most part, whether it’s Dubois or Justin Sourdif earlier in the season, usually it’s a pretty seamless transition for the centerman.
“They also make it easy for the centerman. They’re always in good spots, really intelligent players, and they play a simple, hard game where they’re really, really easy to read off of with the puck offensively.”
Protas himself has expressed how excited he is to play with big brother and repeated those feelings after Wednesday’s morning skate.
“Yeah, it’s big line,” Protas said. “I’m really excited to see what we can do and, obviously, going to try my best.”
Puck drop between the two teams is scheduled for 7:30 pm inside Scotiabank Arena. Carbery tends to give debuting players the game’s opening shift, so we should see the 700-pound line to begin the contest.
