Promotion to the Caps is another highlight of Protas’ outstanding season TheAHL.com
Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
Ilya Protas it was new to the Hershey Bears last fall, but it wasn’t new to him.
The older brother of the rookie standout, Aliakseihe was out of Hershey on his way to a full-time job with the parent Washington Capitals. Ilya came to Hershey knowing full well the standards, facilities and expectations that come with playing for the AHL’s top franchise.
Now, the Bears know what he’s about, too.
On Monday afternoon, Ilya was recalled by the Capitals and is ready to make his NHL debut alongside his brother. Hershey’s leading scorer at just 19 years old, Protas has 62 points (28 goals, 34 assists) in 66 games to lead the AHL in rookie scoring and ranks sixth overall. Those 62 points are the sixth most by a rookie in AHL history, and six of them came last Saturday night in an 8-1 win at Hartford, where the forward had one goal and five assists.
Washington selected Protas in the third round of the 2024 NHL Draft. Five years earlier they drafted Aliaksei, and he played parts of three seasons with the Bears and won the Calder Trophy in 2023. He came off a 30-goal season with Washington in 2024-25 and has scored 24 goals so far this season.
That 2023 Calder Cup run, one in which Aliaksei finished with 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in 20 games, is something Ilya watched as it unfolded.
“It was really special,” he said. “He just told me to enjoy Hershey because it’s a cool place, and the people in town live hockey. He’s known in the stores. It makes you bring your best effort every night. That’s what’s so cool about it. You always play to a sellout, and that’s the best.”
Now Ilya will be going from one playoff run to another as he joins a Capitals team that has no mistakes with a week left in the NHL regular season. The Capitals are five points out of a playoff spot with four games remaining, starting tonight in Toronto.
The loss of their leading scorer will present a challenge for the Bears, who visit Charlotte this weekend as they try to close the field in the Calder Cup Playoffs. Hershey hasn’t missed the postseason since 2018, and has only missed the Calder Cup Playoffs twice since joining the Capitals in 2005.
A native of Vitebsk, Belarus, Protas came to North America at age 17 to play minor hockey with Des Moines (USHL) and Windsor (OHL). Although he has had Russian-speaking teammates Ivan Miroshnichenko, Alex Suzdalev again Bogdan Trineev at Hershey, he already had strong English language skills, something that made his transition that much smoother.
With his development and production — and selection to the AHL All-Star Classic in February — this has already been a great season for the Protas. Now the NHL promotion is another important step. Maybe the Capitals make it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and you stay in Washington. Or maybe he goes back to the Bears and still has a chance to compete in the Calder Cup Playoffs. Either way, it’s an opportunity to build on his success even more.
“That’s all my teammates are – how good they are to me on the ice, on the ice,” Protas said of his Hershey adjustment. “They always help me in every situation. I am very lucky to have that team.”
Now he will have his brother as a partner after making his way to Hershey.
“It’s a really important time for us, for our family.”
In the American Hockey League for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams and currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for the league’s top scorer in 2016.
