The Washington Capitals may have shared a locker room with Alex Ovechkin, but they had no more insight into his future than the rest of us.
Speaking to the Belarusian Hockey Federation, Aliaksei Protas revealed that he had no advance heads-up on Ovechkin’s decision to sign a one-year contract extension with the Caps on July 2, which will see him return for a 22nd season in the NHL.
“No, no one on the team knew until the very end,” Protas said, per a translation by Google Translate. “I was waiting, just like everyone else. Like all the fans, they kept asking me, but I didn’t know until the very end. I was very happy, and the whole team was very happy, when the news broke that he was staying in Washington. It’s great.”
Part of what influenced Ovechkin’s decision to continue playing was how aggressive Capitals general manager Chris Patrick was during the offseason, adding Jordan Kyrou, Alex Tuch, Boone Jenner, and Vincent Desharnais to the club’s roster in an attempt to become a Stanley Cup contender once again.
The team also waved goodbye to several popular veteran and depth players, including Brandon Duhaime and Trevor van Riemsdyk. John Carlson also signed a two-year contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“It’s great that we signed so many skilled, top-notch players,” Protas said. “It’s a shame we’ve lost so many good guys — excellent teammates. It’s sad to see them leave, but unfortunately, that’s the way it works, and things happen. We wish the guys good luck and no injuries. We’re moving on. We’ve acquired a lot of good players, and I’m looking forward to getting to know them and working together.”
Protas participated in a Belarusian charity game over the weekend, taking the ice with his little brother, Ilya. Aliaksei admitted that, because the two are the same height (6-foot-6) and Ilya has matured so much, there was at times confusion when they signed autographs for kids.
“There has been,” Protas said. “And they still ask sometimes. Sometimes they ask him: ‘Aliaksei, can you sign?’ A couple of times, they’ve asked me: ‘Ilyukha, let’s take a photo.’ I say, ‘You need to go further down the line, not to my place.'”
He added, “[Ilya’s] grown up too, matured, you could say. So I’m not surprised. It’s nice to look young, since I’m compared to him.”
Beyond the exhibition game and taking the pitch with Belarus’s national soccer team, Aliaksei admitted that his offseason has been mostly quiet and that he hasn’t done much of interest this summer.
“Nothing much yet,” he said. “At home with my loved ones. We went to Minsk a couple of times to meet the Belarusian national football team, where I met Viktor Mikhailovich Goncharenko [the head coach of the Belarusian national football team]. We also went to a football match at the National Stadium. Otherwise, it’s family, training, and relaxing at home.”
