Ilya Protas is a subject that comes up quite often — every day, actually — for the Washington Capitals.
The budding prospect and younger brother of Capitals breakout winger Aliaksei is off to a red-hot start to his AHL career, with nine goals and eight assists for 17 points through his first 18 games with the Hershey Bears.
“Little Pro comes up every day, and it’s not about him being called up, it’s just us keeping tabs on Hershey, what’s going on there, watching the highlights, reading the reports, having discussions after we watch some of the footage or hear some of the feedback from the coaches there, management or scouts,” coach Spencer Carbery said. “I think the organization — I’m not going to speak for (general manager Chris Patrick), but he’s doing really really well down there, so that’s very exciting. You love to see that.”
Protas has goals in seven straight games, but beyond the production, the 6-foot-6 center is taking well to the pro game, using his size, speed and creativity to his advantage.
With how quickly he’s taking to the pros, and with Hendrix Lapierre playing limited minutes in a fourth-line center role amid Nic Dowd and Pierre-Luc Dubois’ absences up front, the question was raised as to whether or not the Capitals would recall the 19-year-old.
“Where your mind goes next is, ‘Okay, when can he come up here and do those same types of things?'” Carbery admitted.
However, the plan is to continuing to let him develop as a rookie at the AHL level and, as was the case in juniors last season, letting him succeed and star among rookies while evolving his game. Then, when he’s ready, he can make a run for a roster spot up with Washington.
“It’s just a matter of young player doing very well in the American Hockey League, developing, from all accounts, production-wise. Everything that we’re hearing from there is that he’s doing a great job,” Carbery said. “So it’s just continuing to develop and work at your game. The time will come.”