Big brother’s development into a reliable NHL forward informed Washington’s decision to trade up seven spots in the third round and grab Ilya.
“It really helped us to see Big Pro’s development path. … They grow, and then they become better skaters, and then their game develops,” MacLellan said this week at Capitals development camp in Arlington. “It looks like he’s doing the same thing as big brother.”
Ilya, who signed his three-year entry-level contract Saturday, had 14 goals and 51 points in 61 games with the Des Moines Buccaneers in the U.S. Hockey League. He led all USHL rookies in assists.
“It’s just a dream come true,” Protas said. “[Aliaksei] always pushed me hard on and off the ice. … He’s a great brother, and he always helped me a lot.”
Aliaksei pointed to his younger brother’s first season in North America as a key step in his development, saying it might have been the first time he felt Ilya could become a professional player.
“He got out of the comfort zone and moved to the USHL,” Aliaksei said at the draft last month in Las Vegas. “He showed his work ethic. He showed he’s a great teammate. … He’s done a great job in terms of adjusting to North America.”
Ilya used the year to adapt, learning English in the Buccaneers’ locker room and on the ice. He models his game after Aliaksei’s. The two have similar prospect profiles: big and skilled with skating issues.
In 2019, the Athletic’s Corey Pronman called Aliaksei a “gangly skater who awkwardly gets up the ice.” In 2024, Pronman called Ilya’s skating “quite heavy … for the NHL level.”
But Pronman said Aliaksei had “a chance to be a good player with his instincts and size down the middle” if his skating improved. That’s exactly what happened. Aliaksei’s top skating speed was in the 66th percentile among NHL forwards last season, per the league’s tracking data. He played 78 games and had a career-high 29 points.
“They’re obviously huge. They’re both really big kids. The younger brother … his skating might even be a bit better at the same age,” Capitals assistant GM Ross Mahoney, who runs the team’s amateur scouting, said at the draft. “They both got good hands. They’re both really smart.”
Ahead of Ilya’s first development camp, Aliaksei told him to enjoy the experience and be outgoing. Ilya has heeded the advice.
On Saturday, the last day of development camp, Washington’s prospects played against each other in a three-on-three tournament. Protas, playing on a team with forward Ryan Leonard, emerged victorious.
“I always like to surround myself with guys that have high energy, a little bit loose. Guys that like to have fun,” said Leonard, one of the Capitals’ top prospects. “[Protas is] always smiling, he’s always a good guy to mess around with. On the ice, he’s a great player. Plays hard, takes the puck to the back of the net.”
Protas probably will continue his development in North America after being drafted No. 3 overall by the Windsor Spitfires in Wednesday’s Canadian Hockey League Import Draft.
He and his brother have never played on the same team because of their five-year age gap. With Aliaksei signed until 2029, Ilya’s development could soon change that.
“I hope [we play together],” Aliaksei said on draft night. “It’s up to him to work and to prove he deserves to be [on] the Capitals. … I will try to help him as much as I can. But at the end of the day, it’s up to him.”
