Aliaksei Protas has been brought back to the Capitals a day after being sent back to AHL Hershey.
The rookie was recalled back to the team after Anthony Mantha suffered an upper-body injury against the Florida Panthers.
Mantha was placed on injured reserve Friday morning.
NEWS | The Capitals have recalled center Aliaksei Protas from the Hershey Bears and have placed Anthony Mantha on the Injured Reserve list. https://t.co/OCaCYZv0ww
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 5, 2021
Mantha appears to have gotten injured in the second period. He was not on the bench when the Capitals returned for the third and was said to be being evaluated for an injury.
“We’ll find out what it is and then we’ll update,” Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette said after the game.
“It was a track meet out there tonight,” Laviolette added. “It was flying up and down the ice so we needed all four lines. To be missing a forward probably wasn’t great for us. Ovi’s playing on a different line, Kuzy’s playing on a different line, and Mikey is moving to the left wing once in a while. We were just trying to keep [going] so we could keep pace with the speed that was going on out there. It was a quick one. Through it all, losing a player, I thought our players kept pushing and pushing.”
Due to his IR designation, Mantha will not be able to return to active play for the next seven days at the least.
Mantha now joins Nicklas Backstrom and TJ Oshie who are also hurt and out of the lineup. Nic Dowd, who was previously on injured reserve, returned in the Capitals’ loss to the Panthers.
With Mantha now on IR, Washington has $20.65M – or over a quarter of their cap – on IR/LTIR with Backstrom and Oshie also out.
— Ted Starkey (@TedStarkey) November 5, 2021
Protas made his NHL debut on November 1 against the back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning. He received only 3:53 of ice time.
More from the Capitals:
Capitals Recall Aliaksei Protas from Hershey
Anthony Mantha Placed on Injured Reserve
ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals have recalled center Aliaksei Protas from the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League (AHL) and have placed left wing Anthony Mantha on the Injured Reserve list, senior vice president and general manager Brian MacLellan announced today.
Protas, 20, made his NHL debut on Monday in Tampa Bay. Prior to his recall to the Capitals on Nov. 1, Protas recorded four points (1g, 3a) in six games with Hershey this season.
The 6’6″, 225-pound center recorded 18 points (10g, 8a) in 58 regular season games with Dinamo Minsk during the 2020-21 season. The Vitebsk, Belarus, native tied for fifth on the team in goals and tied for eighth in points, despite ranking 15th in time on ice per game (12:52) among Dinamo Minsk skaters with at least 30 games played. Protas was re-assigned to Hershey on March 18 and made his AHL debut on March 31. He recorded seven points (2g, 5a) in 16 games with Hershey. Additionally, Protas represented Belarus at the 2021 IIHF World Championship, recording two assists in six games.
Protas spent the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons with the Prince Albert Raiders of the Western Hockey League (WHL), where he recorded a combined 120 points (42g, 78a) in 119 games.
Protas finished the 2019-20 season with 80 points (31g, 49a) in 58 games and ranked ninth in the WHL in points. He became the third European player in Prince Albert’s history to record 80 points, joining Leon Draisaitl (2013-14: 105 points) and Milan Kraft (1998-99: 86 points).
Protas led Prince Albert in goals, assists, points, plus/minus (37) and game-winning goals (7) in 2019-20, while incurring eight penalty minutes, the fewest among the league’s top-50 scorers. Protas was selected to the WHL’s Eastern Conference First All-Star Team and was named the WHL Eastern Conference Most Sportsmanlike Player of the Year.
The Capitals selected Protas with their third round pick, 91st overall, in the 2019 NHL Draft.
