Ilya Protas is ready.
By the Numbers
1
Goals
3
Assists
4
Games played
16
Minutes per game
On-ice percentages
46%
Shot attempts
44%
Expected goals
50%
Actual goals
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
Peter’s Take
We are calling an audible. In normal cases, a player who appears in just four games does not get a season review. Ilya Protas is a special case.
He’s a baby – his 20th birthday is next month – but he’s a freakishly large baby. In the style of Baby Huey, except instead of a duck wearing diapers, the baby is a Belorussian human already ready for the NHL.
Fun fact: Lil Pro’s first goal was on the power play. He got 9.7 minutes of power play time in 4 games – five times the rate of his big brother.
Those bleak final weeks of the regular season were made brighter by the debut of Aliaksei’s *little* brother, who scored a point per game and looked like he was having a blast. I included the stat infographics above, but with barely an hour of ice time I would not put any weight on it. At all. The future of Ilya Protas is yet to be determined, but his AHL performance suggests very good things. He was second in scoring among rookies (behind only the frankenstein’s monster of hockey names and families that is Quinn Hutson).
In a way, as we figure out the ceiling for Ilya Protas next season, we will also figure out the ceiling for the entire team.
Lil Pro on RMNB
- He once fought Aliaksei as a kid: “I went to him. But I think I lost that fight.”
- He and Aliaksei participated in 3-on-3 charity game with several current and former Belarusian NHL players.
- Aliaksei knew Ilya Protas still had work to do before making jump to the NHL: “He needs to sweat seriously in the locker room and on the ice,”
- Aliaksei was his coach over the summer.
- Also last summer, he grew another inch. He is as tall as his brother now. Let’s check again in the fall.
- Aliaksei on how special be at training camp with his brother: “We’re just so proud to be here and just enjoy that time together.”
- They played together in the Hershey preseason game.
Strome and Protas brothers take legendary photo together before Capitals preseason game in Hershey
- When Ilya scored his first goal for the Capitals in the preseason, Aliaksei said it was “nothing but luck.”
- Cut from training camp along with Cristall.
- Carberry on putting him in Hershey: “Some time in the American League will be a huge benefit for their long-term development.”
- We have tons and tons of Hershey highlights. His first point, his first goal, a game-winning shootout goal, a sick semi-breakaway goal, a shorty, a pretty one,
- He was leading the Bears in goals and points from early on, to his own surprise.
- Carbery on a call-up: “The time will come.”
- Making the 2026 AHL All-Star Team, which he learned about from his brother. He was the youngest player there.
- On April 6, the Caps called him up from the Hershey Bears.
- He made his NHL debut against Maple Leafs: “I couldn’t believe for a second. I was shaky for a bit. I can’t wait for tomorrow.”
- “If you had told me that in childhood [that I would play with my brother], I would just hang up the phone.”
- T̵̯̣̓H̴̼͛E̴̡͓̾̓ ̸̙͖͠ H̷͚̝̻̋̕È̶͈͙̣͑̓̚͝A̵̰̜̳͂̋͋̆͜V̷̹̜͓̗͆Ȋ̶̡̙͂̊̿͌Ḛ̴̺͌́̇Ṣ̶̟͆̀T̷̼̰̄́̅͝ L̸͉̺̟͛̔̅͒̇ͅĮ̷͚͈̞̠̟̥̣̤͛́̂͑̈͗̄̾̆Ṇ̷̃̈͂̐́̈̃̑Ę̵̤̳͓̞̠̖̘̝͛̈̍̂̿̕͝͝͝ I̶̪̞͈͙̪̣͙̻̪̿̓̓́́̈́̆̂̃̑̕͘͝ͅǸ̷̙͕͕͙̟͇̤̞̗͍͙͓̖̖͗̉͋̃̐̌̿͗̿̚͝ ̷̛̝͇̝͔̝̥͚̝͈̯͇͈͛̔͑̈́̅͘̚͝ͅT̶͙͕̙̳̺̙̫͕̯̗́̓̔̊͂͂̃̑͘͜H̴̢̖̗̏̀͆̈̕ͅĘ̵̢̛̗͖̹̞̖͎̘͎̟̭͗́͋̔̄̄͗͆̂̐̑̈́̽ N̶̨͙̑H̷̢̡̧̡̛͎͎̮̫͇̞̜͍̰̲͔̦̖̰͔̗̺̮̖̘̖́͆̓̔̅̍̿͂̄̆̑̈́́͐͌͌̽̈͘͠͝ͅL̵̠̥̹͊͋̈́͌͐͐͐̿͜ͅ!
- Cole Hutson looked ashamed when he realized he could have given Ilya Protas his first NHL goal. “I feel like I owe him one now.”
- Ilya and Aliaksei joined Evgeni Malkin for hallway hockey at Alex Ovechkin’s house.
- The Caps send Ilya Protas back to Hershey after the season ended.
- He made the AHL All-Rookie Team.
- Ilya Protas might factor into Alex Ovechkin’s re-signing.
- He was the Hershey Team MVP and AHL Rookie of the Year.
Your Turn
It’s too easy to ask if Ilya will start next season with the Caps, so instead tell me this: will he be a top-six forward in his rookie year?
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