The Washington Capitals saw Aliaksei Protas hit neew strides — quite literally — in 2024-25, as he rose to prominence with a career year and unparalleled improvement.
Protas, who had managed just 54 points through 169 games in his first three NHL seasons, defied expectations this past year, skyrocketing to a career-high 30 goals and 36 assists for 66 points in 76 games, along with a plus/minus of plus-40, one of the best in the league.
"It took a while," Protas said of hitting his stride. "The first three seasons really help me realize how hard it is in this league and how hard it is to score and just to even, like, have a nice shift. I needed to work very hard."
He credited coach Spencer Carbery and his finishing ability as major attributes to his success, but when it comes down to it, the biggest key to his improvement was his skating.
Protas, who has worked with coach Wendy Marco and emphasized skating as a key areas to focus on in the offseason, was among the best skaters on the Capitals roster, clocking a top speed of 23.18 .miles per hour, which ranked in the 91st percentile league-wide, while managing 158 speed bursts of 20-22 miles per hour, which ranked in the 87th percentil. His skating distance of 193.76 miles landed him in the 70th percentile.
The results were easy to see on the ice, too. He was first to pucks, aggressive on the forecheck and in the right spots, which made him a major asset at even strength and on special teams, specifically the penalty kill, as he racked up shorthanded points.
As a result of his improved skating, the rest of Protas' game benefited; he was able to get to the open space more easily, and his shooting percentage of 21.1 ranked in the 98th percentile this season. His speed and size also made it easier for him to get to high-danger areas, with his 14 goals from high-danger parts of the ice ranking in the 87th percentile.
Don't forget his hockey IQ, though; Pierre-Luc Dubois believes that's the biggest part of his game.
"You look at a guy like Pro and everybody's like, 'Oh, he's got long arms,' you know, but Pro's extremely smart. Just stopping at him being a big guy is not (right)," Dubois said. "If you really want to figure out the smarts, the stick, the battles, winning battles physically is obviously (about being) strong, but you can win battles by being in a good position and baiting a guy... I think the toughest guys to play against are the guys that a rebig, strong and can skate and are smart."
Ultimately, Protas is excited to keep it going and show that this past year wasn't a one-off, but a sign of things to come.
"That's like I always said, it's the beauty of the league. You're never perfect, there's always areas to improve," Protas said, adding, "I try to just keep working on my game. There's so many areas I have to improve. There's so much work ahead of me, but I'm excited about it."
