The Washington Capitals announced Friday afternoon that they have loaned Aliaksei Protas to the Hershey Bears.
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ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals have loaned forward Aliaksei Protas to the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League (AHL), senior vice president and general manager Brian MacLellan announced today.
Protas, 22, has recorded 10 points (3g, 7a) in 43 games with Washington this season. The 6’6”, 235-pound forward appeared in 33 games with Washington during the 2021-22 season, ranking second among Capitals rookies in plus/minus (+4) and third in points (9). In 76 career NHL games with the Capitals, Protas has recorded 19 points (6g, 13a).
In eight games with Hershey this season, Protas has recorded five points (2g, 3a). The Vitebsk, Belarus native recorded 24 points (8g, 16a) in 42 games with the Bears in 2021-22, establishing AHL career highs in goals, assists, points and power play goals (2) and earning Hershey’s Rookie of the Year award. Protas has recorded 36 points (12g, 24a) in 66 career AHL games with Hershey.
The move, whether just on paper or an actual return of Protas to Hershey, was made prior to the 3:00 PM deadline, allowing Protas to be eligible for the AHL playoffs.
Carlsson, Iorio, Protas, and McIlrath were all loaned to Hershey and on @TheHersheyBears roster by 3 p.m., making them eligible for the remainder of the AHL season and the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Carlsson and Iorio have since been recalled to #Caps.
— Zack Fisch (@zackfisch) March 3, 2023
Protas, who is waivers-exempt, started the season with the Capitals, but was sent to Hershey on January 7. He recorded no goals and three assists in five games played with the Bears before returning to Washington.
Protas was recalled by the Capitals on January 18 in time for the Capitals western road trip and played in one game against (Colorado Avalanche) prior to to be re-assigned to Hershey on February 1.
Protas recorded two goals in three games played during his stint in Hershey before being recalled again by Washington on February 10. Protas was once again re-assigned to Hershey on February 21, but saw no game action. He was recalled to the Capitals on February 24.
Aliaksei go up, Aliaksei go down, Aliaksei go up, Aliaksei go down….
Aliaksei play hockey? Or Aliaksei watch hockey?
Wondering if he is feeling like a yoyo or a pogo stick? Honestly this year has been a total waster for him from a hockey standpoint with very little playing time. So sad that the young man doesn’t get more playing time in Wash. As they are only carrying 12 forwards, if someone goes down they recall him. Doesnt make much sense except from cap point. As he is a RFA after next season I wonder if he will only sign a 1 year contract then to try and go somewhere else to get playing time. The retool by the owner and GM is not fair to the younger players or fans as it is not going to make this team a contender and if the make the playoffs only to go out in the first round for a 5th straight time rewards them with a lower pick.
Allow me to educate you on the business of hockey. This is a paper move to make him eligible for the AHL playoffs. He won’t even travel to Hershey and will be back on the roster as soon as the dee situation is resolved.
And if we said at Camp he would have played in 43 NHL games this year and collected 10 points you would be ecstatic. He has had a great year of developing, getting NHL games, learned to be around the pros. This season has exceeded expectations.
I read the article and understood that it was a “paper” move. However from a players prospective would you want to play or sit all the time? True players want to play not sit. And young upcoming players want to play and should over waiver claims. And at this point in the season, especially when the playoffs are nt going to happen, why play a guy like Smith that is not going to be here next year when Protas can be played? From a development point it makes no sense.
They played one of the leagues worst teams the other night and had to go to OT to beat them after loosing to the a week ago and tonight the play the leagues worst team who they lost to and looked terrible a little over 2 weeks ago. This is not a playoff team nor a Cup contending team; that is why guys like Smith should sit and young guys like Protas should play and develop. “Retooling” as some call it only delays the inevitable rebuild and thus makes this average team average longer and frankly is the purpose of a team game to get personal stats for players and fulfill the ego of the owner or is it in the case of hickey to win the Cup?
“The move, whether just on paper or an actual return of Protas to Hershey”
No inkling yet which it was?
They only have 22 rostered right now. And only 12 forwards. I suspect they will call him back up later this afternoon before the game. Good moves to have agility in the lineup. I think the only person who would come out of lineup right now for Protas is Smith. We need to find a way to get Mantha going because we are likely stuck with him. Maybe Sheary comes out for Mantha given his struggles.
Sad to say but Mantha is what you see. He was that way in Detroit and not all trades work out. Mantha reminds me in a way of Nylander except he doesn’t have the negative attitude and why play a man who is not productive when you have younger players who need to play? Yes we are stuck with him but that doesnt mean we have to play him. For my liking I would sit both Mantha and Smith and play Protas and call up Snively.
I attend Bears practices and I haven’t seen Protas in ages. I would suspect at least the last two moves were “paper”.
Sorry folks… i no longer get notifications of posts so gets lost and I forget to come back. This is a ll a bit old now given the Sharks game.
Despite Smith scoring 2 goals, I’d still like to see Protas in the lineup. And now we have Sheary for the season as well. It might take injuries to get Protas back in the lineup or at least a losing streak. If we can’t move Mantha prior to the draft we may need to buy him out. I played around on CapFriendly and it only has a minimal impact on salary Cap and gives us a lot of lineup flexibility. But he should have some value to move in offseason.
Sorry to hear this, Dwgie. I will look and see if your email is still on the master e-mail list. The best/easiest/fastest way to fix things is to subscribe (again, sorry) in the box in the upper right of the website.