Ilya Protas eager to seize ‘big chance’ at Capitals training camp

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Ilya Protas sees a “big chance” ahead of him with the Washington Capitals and can’t help feeling a combination of excitement and nerves.

After impressing during his first four NHL games at the end of last season, the 20-year-old heads into training camp as the favorite to begin the season as the Capitals’ third-line center.

“It's cool, but it's the best league in the world, and you’ve got to prove it, and you’ve got to show it, and you’ve got to deserve it, and earn it,” Protas told NHL.com on Sunday following the first day of practice at Capitals rookie camp at McMullen Hockey Arena on the campus of the U.S. Naval Academy. “No one is going to give you that spot just for free. I know there is a big chance to make it, and I’ve just got to come to the camp and prove it and do my thing.”

Protas, a third-round pick (No. 75) in the 2024 NHL Draft, acknowledged, though, that this opportunity will bring increased expectations when training camp practices begin on Thursday that he did not face in his first two camps with Washington. And with those expectations, comes pressure.

“It's a lot of nerves, I would say,” he said. “But I try to put them away when I step on the ice for practice and stuff like that, and just try to focus on hockey, not on what's going on in my head because I’ve just got to do what I do, show my best and leave everything out there every time I step on ice.”

Protas is following a path paved by his older brother Aliaksei Protas, a third-round pick (No. 91) in the 2019 NHL Draft who is entering his sixth season with Washington. 

The brothers from Belarus are an imposing pair. Aliaksei, 25, is listed at 6-foot-6, 250 pounds. Ilya is listed at 6-6, 225, which is up from 6-5, 198 heading into last season, but says his true weight now is 230.

And he’s not done growing.

“I am still,” Ilya said. “So, we will see.”

The Capitals are understandably excited about Ilya’s combination of size and offensive skill. As a first-year pro last season, Protas won the Dudley “Red” Garrett Memorial Award as the American Hockey League’s rookie of the year after leading the league’s rookies and all Hershey players with 66 points (29 goals, 37 assists), in 69 games. 

That led to his call-up for the final week of the NHL season. Playing mostly in the middle of a behemoth line with his brother on his left wing and 6-4, 225-pound Tom Wilson on the right, Protas had four points (one goal, three assists) in four games, including three (one goal, two assists) in a 6-3 victory at the Pittsburgh Penguins on April 11.

That and his play in the AHL last season were enough to convince general manager Chris Patrick to say Protas is “penciled in” as Washington’s third-line center behind Dylan Strome and Pierre-Luc Dubois.

“I just have a hard time seeing at least to start the season who (else) goes into that spot based on what he did at the end of the season and what he did last year in Hershey,” Patrick said last month. “I think our depth and our talent will help with a guy like that. Justin Sourdif showed for stretches of last season that he can play pretty well in that top-six role, so if Ilya hits a rough patch or whatever, Justin can easily take more minutes and give him a bit of a breather or maybe easier matchups or whatever.

“Then, with a healthy Pierre-Luc and with Dylan Strome, we’ve got two veteran guys that can carry a heavy load as well. So, I think we have enough pieces around him to help insulate him a little bit if we need to.”

The Capitals also signed Boone Jenner (four-year, $23 million contract; $5.75 million average annual value), a versatile veteran who is expected to start the season playing wing but can move to center if Protas needs a break. Protas was drafted as a left wing, but Washington views him as a center after he predominantly played that position with Windsor of the Ontario Hockey League in 2024-25 and in the AHL and NHL last season.

Protas sees himself as a center as well.

“It’s my main spot” he said. “Really comfortable in the position.”

Protas spent the offseason at home in Belarus working out off and on the ice with his older brother and Anaheim Ducks forward prospect Yegor Sidorov. Aliaksei was the unquestioned leader of the group.

“He's a great example,” Ilya Protas said. “He never takes a day off, and always 100 percent effort. So, it's pushing us ahead.”

Protas said his conversations with Capitals coach Spencer Carbery during the offseason focused on “understanding what spot I am in, and what I’ve got to do to get better.” Those four games with Washington at the end of last season gave him a decent idea of the challenge ahead of him too.

“It's all about the details,” he said. “Whether it’s D-zone, neutral zone, O-zone, if it’s with the puck, without the puck, all those details matter. You see the guys, and you look up to all of them, and you try to do everything that you can to see what they're doing in that situation, in that spot. 

“It's been great experience, but it's the best league in the world, so you’ve got to be prepared for that.”