From Beauvillier to Wilson, we’re taking a look at and grading the 2024-25 season for every player who laced ‘em up for the Washington Capitals for a significant number of games during the campaign, with an eye towards 2025-24. Next up, Aliaksei Protas.
The Bio:
#21 | Center | Shoots: Left
Height: 6’6” | Weight: 247 | Born: January 6, 2001
Birthplace: Vitebsk, BLR | Acquired: Drafted by the Capitals 91st overall in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft
Cap Hit: $3,375,000 | Signed Through: 2028-29 | Expiry Status: Unrestricted Free Agent
The Scouting Report (via EP)
The Stats:
The Charts:
The Key Stat: Protas was eighth in the league in shooting percentage (min. 41 games played) with 21.1%, up from the 5.7% shooting percentage he was rocking in the 169 games prior to this season.
The Good: It’s harder to say what wasn’t good for Protas this past season, because 2024-25 was truly a breakout season for #21. He didn’t just surpass his previous career highs across the board; he demolished them, scoring more goals and points than he had in his first three years combined. He was one of three Caps to hit the 30-goal mark, and while plus-minus is a flawed stat, extremes are still worth noting, and he was third in the entire league with a very impressive +40. Protas was also tied with Tom Wilson and Jakob Chychrun for the second-most game-winning goals on the team, trailing only some guy named Alex Ovechkin.
Like Connor McMichael, one of Protas’s biggest strengths was an ability to get to the net for his goals, either scoring on a breakaway or creating traffic in close and scoring 14 of his 30 goals in the high-danger area (87th percentile). He also finished second among Caps’ forwards in CF% (52.9%) and HDGF% (62.1%), third in SCF% (54.1%).
He vastly improved his skating, shooting and involvement across the board, and it showed every night, putting him on the map as a forward to watch going forward.
The Bad: There really isn’t much you can talk about Protas in a negative manner. Honestly the biggest negative about his season was out of his control, as he suffered a skate cut in early April that kept him out of the last six games of the regular season and the first two games of the team’s opening-round series against Montreal.
The Video:
The Discussion: Do you think Protas will be able to replicate or even build upon this past season going forward? Where would you like to see Protas improve his game? How many points do you think he scores next season?
The Vote: Rate Aliaksei Protas below on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best) based on his performance relative to his potential and your expectations for the season – so if he had the best year you could have imagined him having, give him a 10; if he more or less played as you expected he would, give him a 5 or a 6; if he had the worst year you could have imagined him having, give him a 1.
