Ilya Protas is a Belarusian forward in the Washington Capitals organization, drafted in the third round in 2024. He was the AHL’s rookie of the year with the Hershey Bears in 2025-26, and his older brother, Aliaksei, also plays for the Capitals.
| Fast facts: Ilya Protas | |
|---|---|
| Current team | Washington Capitals. AHL affiliate: Hershey Bears |
| Position | Centre, also left wing |
| Shoots | Left |
| Born | 18 July 2006, Vitebsk, Belarus |
| Height / weight | 6’6″ / 225 lbs, per the Capitals |
| Drafted | 2024, third round, 75th overall, Washington Capitals |
| Contract status | Three-year entry-level contract signed 6 July 2024. It slid twice and runs from 2026-27 through 2028-29 at a $932,500 cap hit |
| Jersey | No. 62 |
Who does Ilya Protas play for?
Ilya Protas plays for the Washington Capitals organization. He spent 2025-26 with the Hershey Bears in the AHL, played four NHL games for Washington after a recall on 6 April 2026, and was returned to Hershey on 15 April. Going into 2026-27 training camp he was pushing for a regular NHL job. He skated informally with Aliaksei at the Capitals’ practice rink on 3 September 2026, and he was on the roster for Washington’s rookie camp in Annapolis from 13 to 15 September 2026. Main camp was due to open on 17 September.
“I’m going to assume he’s going to be part of our center ice group,” general manager Chris Patrick said in June 2026, and RMNB projected him alongside Dylan Strome, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Justin Sourdif among Washington’s centres. The channels and streams for every Capitals game are in our guide to how to watch the Washington Capitals.
What are Ilya Protas’s career stats?
Ilya Protas has played in a different league in each of his three seasons in North America, from the USHL to the OHL to the AHL.
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-24 | Des Moines Buccaneers | USHL | 61 | 14 | 37 | 51 |
| 2024-25 | Windsor Spitfires | OHL | 61 | 50 | 74 | 124 |
| 2025-26 | Hershey Bears | AHL | 69 | 29 | 37 | 66 |
| 2025-26 | Washington Capitals | NHL | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
He made the USHL’s All-Rookie First Team with Des Moines in 2024. His 124 points in Windsor were second in the OHL, and he won the William Hanley Trophy as the league’s most sportsmanlike player with 34 penalty minutes. He was also the first Belarusian on an OHL All-Star team since Sergei Kostitsyn in 2006-07. In Hershey he led all AHL rookies in scoring and won the Dudley “Red” Garrett Memorial Award as the league’s rookie of the year, the second Bears player to win it after Ron Hextall in 1985-86. In February 2026 he was the youngest player at the AHL All-Star Challenge, according to RMNB. He also made the AHL’s All-Rookie Team and Top Prospects Team, and his 66 points were the fourth-most by a teenager in AHL history at the time, according to Hershey. His 29 goals broke a Hershey record for a teenager that had stood for 74 years, since Réal Chevrefils scored 20 in 1951-52.
Who is Ilya Protas’s brother?
Ilya Protas’s older brother is Aliaksei Protas, a Capitals forward born on 6 January 2001, also in Vitebsk. Washington drafted Aliaksei 91st overall in 2019, five years before it took Ilya, so both brothers are third-round Capitals picks, and he scored 52 points in 2025-26, fifth on the team. In March 2025 Alex Ovechkin passed up an empty net to set Aliaksei up for his first NHL hat trick.
Aliaksei, who wears No. 21, is listed at 250 lbs. Head coach Spencer Carbery said the team would call them “Big Pro” and “Pro”, although Ilya says his own nickname in the room was “PJ”, short for Pro Junior. In the summer of 2025 Aliaksei acted as his younger brother’s coach during training in Belarus, RMNB reported. “He’s a hardworking guy. He absolutely deserves it,” Aliaksei said when Ilya was called up.
How did Ilya Protas’s NHL debut go?
Ilya Protas made his NHL debut on 8 April 2026 in a 4-0 win in Toronto, playing 15:37 on a line with Aliaksei and Tom Wilson, and became the 42nd player in Capitals history with a point in his NHL debut. His first NHL point was an assist on an empty-net goal by Cole Hutson, and Aliaksei had the other assist on the same goal. “Rookie lap, first shift, and obviously the game, we got two points, the point, and I shared the point with my brother,” Ilya said.
Three days later, in a 6-3 win over Pittsburgh, he scored his first NHL goal on the power play, set up Aliaksei’s 25th goal of the season and added an assist on Wilson’s 30th, finishing as the game’s second star.
Is Ilya Protas a centre?
Yes, mostly. Ilya Protas played centre in Hershey and is listed at centre and left wing by EliteProspects, while the NHL’s roster data has him at left wing. Hershey used him as its first-line centre at 19. “He took it and ran with it. It’s well deserved,” Bears head coach Derek King said.
Is Ilya Protas Russian?
No. Ilya Protas is Belarusian, and he has not been able to play for Belarus at an IIHF tournament, because the IIHF suspended Russian and Belarusian teams on 28 February 2022. On 7 May 2026 the International Olympic Committee dropped its recommendation to exclude Belarusian athletes, and the IIHF let Belarus back into some youth and women’s events for 2026-27. The men’s team is barred from the 2027 World Championship, the IIHF ruled on 30 July 2026, and as a 2006-born player Protas is too old for the 2027 World Juniors.
What is Ilya Protas’s contract?
Ilya Protas signed a three-year entry-level contract with Washington on 6 July 2024. The deal slid in 2024-25, when he played in the OHL, and again in 2025-26, when he played only four NHL games. It now runs from 2026-27 through 2028-29 at a $932,500 cap hit, and he is due to become a restricted free agent in 2029, according to PuckPedia’s contract data. He is also exempt from waivers, according to PuckPedia, so Washington can move him between the NHL and Hershey without risk of losing him.
How tall is Ilya Protas, and how old is he?
Ilya Protas was born on 18 July 2006 in Vitebsk, Belarus. The Capitals list him at 6’6″ and 225 lbs, after he grew an inch in 2025 to match his brother. EliteProspects lists him at 6’5″, while Hockey-Reference and Wikipedia agree with the Capitals. He wears No. 62, and he has said Alex Ovechkin helped and supported him after he arrived in Washington.
