Forward Ilya Protas, recalled from the Hershey Bears by the Washington Capitals on April 6, made his National Hockey League debut Wednesday evening, skating in his major league premiere with the Capitals against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena. The 19-year-old skated in 19 shifts for 15:37 of ice time, recording an assist to become the 42nd player in team history to record a point in his NHL debut as Washington earned a 4-0 victory against the Maple Leafs.
Protas is the 71st Bears player to make his NHL debut with Washington since the two teams entered into an affiliation agreement prior to the 2005-06 season, and the second during the 2025-26 campaign following Bogdan Trineyev (Dec. 13 at Winnipeg). Protas ranks first in scoring among American Hockey League rookies this season and sixth in overall league scoring with a team-leading 62 points (28g, 34a) in 66 games. Protas' 10 power-play goals are tied for seventh in the league and ranks second among rookies.
The native of Vitebsk, Belarus represented Hershey at the 2026 AHL All-Star Classic in Rockford, Illinois in February. He leads Hershey in goals (28), power-play goals (10), points (62), power-play points (17), plus-minus (+16), and shots (141). Protas' 28 goals are the most in a single season by a teenaged player for the Bears, breaking the previous mark of 20 established by Réal Chevrefils in 1951-52.
Protas has recorded 16 multi-point games, including registering six points (1g, 5a) in Hershey's 8-1 win at Hartford on April 4, marking the first six-point game by a Bears player since Mathieu Perreault recorded six assists on Nov. 14, 2010 vs. Binghamton, and the first by an American Hockey League player since Alan Quine (3g, 3a) for Stockton at San Jose on Dec. 27, 2019.
The 6'6", 225-pound center was Washington's third-round selection (75th overall) in the 2024 NHL Draft and he is in the first year of a three-year, entry-level NHL contract signed with the Capitals on July 6, 2024. Ilya's older brother, Aliaksei, was drafted by the Capitals in the third round (91st overall) of the 2019 NHL Draft and helped Hershey win the Calder Cup in 2023. The duo is the fourth set of brothers in Capitals history to play together, joining Peter and Chris Ferraro (1GP), Dale and Mark Hunter (7 GP), and Kelly and Kevin Miller (10 GP).
(Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images)
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