“It’s great, but it’s the best league in the world and you’ve got to prove it, 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 US Naval Academy campus. “No one is going to just give you that spot for free. I know there’s a big chance to make it and I just have to come to camp and prove it and do my thing.”
Protas, a third-round pick (No. 75) in the 2024 NHL draft, acknowledged, however, that the opportunity will bring higher expectations when training camp practices begin Thursday, expectations he hasn’t met 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 the hockey and not on what’s going on in my head because I just have to do what I do and do my best and leave it all out there every time I step on the ice.”
Protas follows the path paved by his elder brother Aliaksey Protasthird-round pick (No. 91) in the 2019 NHL Draft, who is entering his sixth season with Washington.
The brothers from Belarus are an impressive couple. Aliaksey, 25, is listed at 6-foot-6, 250 pounds. Ilya is listed at 6-6, 225, up from 6-5, 198 last season.
However, Ilya says his actual weight is now 230 and he hasn’t grown yet.
“I’m still staying,” said Ilya. “So we want to see.”
The Capitals are understandably excited about Ilya’s combination of size and offensive prowess. As a first-year pro, Protas won the Dudley “Red” Garrett Memorial Award as American Hockey League Rookie of the Year last season after leading the team with 66 points (29 goals, 37 assists) in 69 games.
That led to him being called up for the final week of the NHL season. Primarily plays in the middle of the behemoth line with his brother at left wing and is 6-4, 225 lbs. Tom Wilson right side Protas had four points (one goal, three assists) in four games, including three (one goal, two assists) in a 6-3 win at the Pittsburgh Penguins on April 11.
