Aliaksei Protas had one of the biggest breakout seasons in the NHL during the 2024-25 campaign, over doubling his previous career high in points and scoring 30 goals for the first time. The 24-year-old forward finished third on the East-best Washington Capitals in overall scoring (66 points) and third in goals (30).
Despite the incredible leap in just his second full NHL season, Protas believes he still has plenty left to learn and a great role model to learn from, Alex Ovechkin. The big Belarusian recently spoke with Bet News about what more he wants to take from the Capitals captain as he moves forward in his career.
“It’s hard to take anything from unique people,” Protas said, as translated via Google Translate. “He’s one of a kind in the whole wide world, and with each day spent in the NHL, I understand it more and more clearly. No one thought that Gretzky’s record could be broken. But he did.
“Of course, you can look up to Ovechkin’s inexhaustible hunger for the game, his desire to win every match, his leadership, and, of course, his human qualities. I have already talked a lot about how he helped me in everyday life and in adapting to the team. How he gave me his car, how he always invited me to his home, or when he went somewhere to eat.”
Protas spoke earlier this year about how Ovechkin had previously loaned him a car for the nearly two-and-a-half-hour drive from DC to Hershey after a demotion to the Bears from the Capitals. During his 20 years with the Caps, Ovechkin has remained a great guide and resource for any Russian-speaking youngsters that the organization has brought in.
Ovechkin’s leadership style is unique, as he prefers to use his jovial attitude to break the ice in the locker room. Protas is still learning to try and turn the ultra-serious part of his brain off more and adopt more of Ovechkin’s attitude when the time comes to do so.
“[I want to] worry less about certain things,” Protas said. “You realize that it wasn’t worth it. But before, it really was a problem; it was gnawing at you from the inside, and you were just getting worked up over nonsense, as it turned out later. There are things that you just have to let go of. Especially if you can’t influence them.”
Ovechkin has just one year remaining on what could be his final NHL contract. The 39-year-old has reportedly not determined whether next season will be his last with the Capitals.
Protas will head into the 2025-26 season fully recovered from a nasty skate cut injury that kept him out of the final six games of the regular season and limited him in the playoffs. The 2019 third-round draft selection has four years left on his contract at $3.375 million against the salary cap per year after signing a five-year extension in January of 2024.
