Aliaksei Protas couldn’t produce like he did in his breakout season, and there’s one obvious reason why.

---

By the Numbers

On-ice percentages

---

Isolated Impact by HockeyViz

About this visualization:  This image by  Micah Blake McCurdy of hockeyviz.com  shows how the player has impacted play when on the ice. At the top of the image is the team’s offense (even strength at left, power play at right) and at bottom is the team’s defense (with penalty kill at bottom right). In each case, red/orange blobs mean teams shoot for more from that location on the ice, and blue/purple means less. In general, a good player should have red/orange blobs near the opponent’s net at top, and blue/purple blobs near their own team’s net at bottom. The distributions in middle show how the player compares to league average at individual finishing, setting up teammates to score, and taking and drawing penalties. The number at center is Synthetic Goals: a catch-all number for the player’s impact.

Player Card by Evolving Hockey

About this player card:  This card from Josh and Luke of  Evolving Hockey  compares the player to league averages based on their impact on on-ice statistics. GAR means “goals above replacement,” where “replacement” means an average player called up from the AHL. xGAR is the same figure but assuming league-average goaltending. The numbers at top are the player’s percentile ranks overall and then for offense and defense alone. 

Player Overview  by NHL Edge

About this visualization:  The NHL’s advanced statistics program, Edge, tracks player and puck movement. The player’s shot speed, skating speed, and skating distance are at top along with percentile rank. At bottom left is a shot location map, and at bottom right is zone time per zone.

Gratuitous Generative Art by Peter

Using p5.js, the player’s name is a seed that randomizes a bunch of values in an animated canvas with glitchy effects that should be gradual enough not to mess with people with sensory issues. Not AI. Not all that different from Logo, which I learned in like 1992.

---

Peter’s Take

You can’t teach big. That’s what I heard. Aliaksei Protas is 6′,6″, 250 lbs. You can’t miss him on the ice, and now — with the introduction of younger, smaller (maybe, and maybe just for now) brother Ilya — there are two of him. Those two plus Tom Wilson made up maybe the lorgest line in the NHL last season. They outscored opponents 2 to 1 in 38 minutes together, which is fine. But Protas really missed his best linemate from the prior season: Pierre-Luc Dubois, whose absence was devastating to the Caps’ top six for most of the season. They were great together in 2024-25, and I hope they can be again in 2025-26.

In the meantime, it’s time to find some power play time for Protas. He hit a career high last season: 36 minutes.

---

Pro on RMNB

• Ilya once fought Aliaksei as a kid: ‘I went to him. But I think I lost that fight.’
• Big Pro on Little Pro, in the preseason: “He needs to sweat seriously in the locker room and on the ice.”
• Little Pro on Big Pro, in the preaseason: “You see how he works and you’ve got to work the same way”
• Their first game pic together:

Strome and Protas brothers take legendary photo together before Capitals preseason game in Hershey

• Ryan Leonard on Aliaksei: “[He’s] made in a laboratory. We all say he’s the best player in the league.”
• On Connor McMichael’s brilliant setup: “Oh god, my mom would score from that”
• Aliaksei’s mom asked if the Capitals would pick Ilya in the draft.
• He was on a 66-goal pace early in the season. Don’t trust early-season paces.

Aliaksei Protas crouches down for his intermission interviews with Al Koken. Does it hurt? ‘A little bit, but for him I can do that. I can sacrifice myself.’

• Pro on the team’s scoring slump: “We know it’s not a fun time to watch us right now.” Yeah dude.
• Logan Thompson got “terrible” Russian lessons from Protas.
• Protas owns the franchise record for most goals without a PPG to start a career. He still doesn’t have one.
• Protas had a lower-body injury in January. He went on IR, missed a few games, and returned to score.
• Big Pro told Little Pro when he made the AHL All-Star list.

Aliaksei Protas missed Capitals game against Utah for birth of his second child, a girl

• Aliaksei Protas asked and received permission from TJ Oshie to change his goal song to ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’
• In March, Protas collided head-to-head with ex-teammate Nic Dowd. On the injury: “He’s feeling way better now in terms of how the face looks.”

For Ilya and Aliaksei Protas, playing in the NHL together is a dream come true: ‘If you had told me that in childhood, I would just hang up the phone’

• The 700-pound line of Aliaksei Protas, Ilya Protas, and Tom Wilson.

---

Your Turn

What’s the ideal line for Protas next season? Brother magic? Back with PLD?

Read More Player Reviews