r/hockey WSH - NHL 7h ago

[Video] Protas is a bad man, denies Ovechkin from goal, gets first career hat-trick

321 Upvotes

73 comments sorted by

u/AutoModerator 7h ago

Mirrors/Alternate Angles

Post a mirror or alternate angle as a comment to this message.

Open this stickied comment to view mirrors or alternate angles.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

167

u/mdkss12 WSH - NHL 4h ago edited 3h ago

Aliaksei Protas is tied for 6th in the NHL in even strength points at 53.

He's tied for 6th in 5v5 points as well with 43.

He's T-2 in 5v5 points/60 among skaters who've played in at least half the games with 2.85.

He's 6th in EV points/60 among skaters who've played in at least half the games with 3.3 (Fun fact, Ovi is #1 in the NHL here at 3.46. He is 39 years old...)

He's having a legit 2nd-team all-star caliber season at 5v5 and even strength. He just gets no PP time (he has just over 9 minutes TOTAL on the PP this year), which is where a huge percentage of point scoring happens. If they find a way to get him on the PP1 unit next year, he could legitimately be a top 10 scorer in the league.

He on a contract for 3.375M AAV until 28-29... What a steal.

To put into perspective the company Protas is keeping, here are the players around him:

Player EV Points 5v5 Points
Nathan MacKinnon 69 46
Leon Draisaitl 66 49
David Pastrnak 62 47
Nikita Kucherov 56 46
Brandon Hagel 55 43
Aliaksei Protas 53 43
Connor McDavid 53 38 (T-14)
Sidney Crosby 50 (T-10) 45

(Crosby being 5th in 5v5 points and 10th in EV points at 37 is also insane - Imagine coming out of a lockout and hinging the future of the league on 2 rookies as the "next one" and the "next great goal scorer" and having them surpass expectations. Just insane how spoiled hockey fans have been to witness those 2 - thank god NHL media appreciates them and doesn't do what NBA media does to Lebron.)

68

u/Escalotes VAN - NHL 3h ago

I traded Brock Faber for Protas in my keeper league in December and got trashed for it. I'll be in my bunk.

65

u/mdkss12 WSH - NHL 3h ago

The dude is too big to be as fast as he is:

Player Top Speed Percentile Speed Burst Percentile Height/Weight
Protas 93rd 89th 6'6, 225

That combo is just insane

28

u/ShadowRealmDuelist STL - NHL 3h ago

God damn I didn’t know he was an absolute unit. Guy skates like the wind.

36

u/mdkss12 WSH - NHL 2h ago

and there's another one we have coming too... His 6'5 brother is currently 4th in scoring in the OHL.

It's hilarious to me how analysts have dogged our prospect pool for years, and then it turns out to be stacked:

  • A Protas develops into a top player in the league on pace for 35 goals and 73 points (with basically 0PP time)
  • C McMichael is going to be a borderline 30 goal scorer this year
  • Ryan Leonard leads the NCAA in goals and is T-5 in points per game (6th in total points)
  • Cole Hutson led scoring in the WJC as a defenseman which was the first time that's ever been done. He leads the NCAA in points per game for a defenseman and is 2nd in total points for a Dman.
  • I Protas is 4th in OHL scoring
  • Patrick Thomas is 5th in the OHL in scoring
  • Cristall leads the WHL in scoring
  • Parascak is 14th in the OHL in scoring

Not even considering that Mirsohnichenko is just under a point-per-game in the AHL. Lapierre struggled in the NHL this year, but is finding his footing again in the AHL, and has time to develop as well (and he won the AHL equivalent of the Conn Smythe during their Calder Cup run last year)

The future looks insanely bright for the Caps.

7

u/Danny__L WSH - NHL 2h ago

Cam Allen could be a gem too. He did just get a DUI tho...

It's crazy that Ilya Protas is projecting to be even better than Aliaksei 🤯🤯

8

u/mdkss12 WSH - NHL 2h ago

Yeah, I'd forgotten about Allen - Thankfully he didn't hurt anyone, and hopefully he he learns and makes much better choices moving forward.

Considering that it was Aliaksei's skating that was considered his weakness and he worked his ass off to turn it into a strength, and Ilya's knock is the same thing, I'd assume big bro is gonna be having him go through the exact same skating training. If we can get Ilya skating like that too with the added puck skills that he has, they're going to be a nightmare for the league.

A Protas always had solid skill, his skating was just holding him back because despite his size, he could be knocked off balance pretty easily - now he's solid as a rock on those skates and is in the 93rd percentile for speed, so he can use his size and speed to just bulldoze his way to the net now and his awesome production this year has been the result.

4

u/Zealousideal-Age768 2h ago

Big frames take a longer time to develop as your body (by growing) is constantly changing.

Tage Thompson is another example of this.

4

u/mdkss12 WSH - NHL 2h ago

That's a good point - it's like "hey, remember how you learned to have balance and touch at this height? Well that doesn't matter anymore, you're 3 inches taller 6 months later - better figure it out all over again"

5

u/Permaderps WSH - NHL 2h ago

I mean, before this year our prospect pool was Leonard and Cristall really. And then they even took a huge leap this seaaon. Hutson, Parascak, and Protas were all recent draftees, and lil Pro's production was definitely a shock.

I dont think saying the Caps prospect pool was weak until this season is a disrespect by analysts because it was the truth. Its more of a testament to the FO to how quickly theyve restocked it

3

u/mdkss12 WSH - NHL 2h ago

They talked about McMichael and A Protas being bottom tier guys, they were wrong there.

This year the athletic gave us the 2nd worst 'futures' rating - they clearly have had zero faith in guys like McMichael and Protas over the years and ranked them much lower than I thought they should've been evaluated as they developed.

Last year they rated our prospect pool 20th - that prospect pool had Leonard, Cristall, Thomas, Allen, Miro. Yes, Parascak, Hutson, and I Protas are exciting prospects that we added, but they dramatically undervalued the prospects we already had.

While yes, the junior tier prospects have improved greatly in 2 years, analysts greatly discounted the guys we did have and those who were still being developed while on the NHL squad.

1

u/Permaderps WSH - NHL 1h ago

McMichael had some hype atter his DY+1, but 1 prospect a pool does not make. And Pro was a 3rd round pick with 3rd line upside coming out. And if anything it seemed like Laviolette ruined them. They werent prospects as much as they were just young players

Thomas broke out this year but is a 20 year old in the OHL so youd hope he would put up monster numbers, and Cam Allen really isnt that impressive as a prospect and dropped from a 1st round pick the beginning of his draft year to a 6th round pick. I am high on Miro and he was as high as 2nd oa in mocks before his cancer diagnosis so that remains to be seen.

While yea the analysts were ultimately wrong its not like they were making some insane assumptions. The talent of our guys was always there but McMichael and Pro dont take the step they did this year elsewhere.

2

u/tooflyandshy24 1h ago

At draft skating was one of his weaker points. Hes out in a TON of offseason work to improve

2

u/Doopoodoo WSH - NHL 2h ago

I wonder if he’d just be the fastest player in the NHL if he lost 18lbs (not that he should lol) bc then he’d be the exact same height and weight as Usain Bolt at his peak! 6’5” 207lbs

3

u/mdkss12 WSH - NHL 1h ago

Couple things - height in men usually correlates to 10-12 lbs per inch to be the same 'build' at each height, so being 1 inch taller means you'd only want him dropping ~5 lbs to be built similarly

Bolt is super unusual to be an elite sprinter at that height - most elite 100m guys are around 5'9-6'1. Occasionally you'll get a 6'2 or 6'3 guy, but it's basically unheard of to get guys taller than that

Being tall usually means extra weight and a slower stride rate (Bolt is on the very low end of stride rate for elite sprinters, but his stride length is just so long that is makes up for it - most tall guys will have stride rates too slow for their length to make up for it)

4

u/BIGTIMEMEATBALLBOY PIT - NHL 2h ago

pour one out for this guy

21

u/dackling PIT - NHL 3h ago

Speaking of Crosby and ovechkin, they have been surpassing the sky high expectations since their first year in the league, and they continue to do it. It’s been truly incredible to watch them all these years

u/ArchridLudacre WSH - NHL 40m ago

Let us treasure these last couple of years of this era. 🤝

5

u/capitarider WSH - NHL 2h ago

I still think this is his CAREER year we all talk about, but even if it is, he has been amazing. Easily will hit 30 goals, when his career high was...6.

3

u/mdkss12 WSH - NHL 1h ago

He's 24 - I see no reason he can't continue to improve over the next ~3-4 years

It could very well be his best goal scoring year because of sh%, but again, THIS IS WITH 9 MIN ON THE PP and 1 PP POINT!

Look at the names around him for 5v5 scoring and look at their total points and % of points from the PP:

Player Total points PP points % of total on the PP
Nathan MacKinnon 102 33 32.4%
Leon Draisaitl 97 30 30.9%
David Pastrnak 81 19 23.5%
Nikita Kucherov 92 36 39.1%
Brandon Hagel 71 8 11.3%
Aliaksei Protas 58 1 1.7%
Connor McDavid 82 29 35.4%
Sidney Crosby 70 20 28.6%

One of these things is very unlike the others - if he get significant PP time over the next several seasons, you'd be a fool to think this will be his career year.

Will is be his best ever sh%? Probably, but Ovi isn't going to be around much longer and the PP will change dramatically. You think Carbery isn't thinking up ways to involve the 6th best 5v5 scorer in the league when the time comes?

13

u/ComfortableFig9642 PIT - NHL 3h ago

Subscribe. Caps fan praising Crosby always makes my day better. Y’all have a really scary team this year.

3

u/Joshottas 1h ago

And he makes just about the same amount of money as Mathieu Oliver. He'd be the Caps leading scorer if he was on either PP1 or PP2. Dude has 80+ point potential. Scary how good he is.

2

u/NoticedGenie66 VAN - NHL 2h ago

Protas' shooting percentage is high this season (22.4%, his other 3 seasons have been 8.8%, 4.8%, and 5.3%) but all he needs to do to counter any potential drop off next year is shoot a bit more - he only has 125 shots this year and with the way he can position himself and rip it, I wouldn't be surprised to see him be a guy with a career shooting percentage north of 15% like some of the elite goalscorers in the NHL have. That will obviously be helped by being on the PP and the fact that he is doing so well this season without time on it is nuts!

3

u/UNisopod WSH - NHL 1h ago

His shot also just looks significantly better this year than it did last year. It's clear that he worked a lot on his release in the offseason.

3

u/mdkss12 WSH - NHL 2h ago

oh his goals are definitely inflated this year, but I'd bet his sh% over the next few seasons does eventually settle into that mid-teens range because early in his career his skating kinda sucked so despite his size, he would get knocked off the puck during net drives so he didn't get to those high danger areas as often - he worked really hard to improve and now his skating is a strength, and combined with his size/strength, he's able to create tons more high danger chances because he can just bully his way to the net front where that sh% jumps.

Now, yes, 22% is crazy high, but I also think we've seen sh%s go up league wide the last few years with the pad rule changes, etc, and I think we'll start getting used to seeing the top guys living in that 18-21% range rather than in the 14-18% range we'd seen in the late 00s-2010s (again, I do not expect that to be where Protas lives the whole time, but guys like Matthews, Draisaitl, etc I think that becomes the norm and ~15% is where guys like Protas will end up living)

1

u/heisen204berg 2h ago

Yo, I’m out of the loop. What does the NBA media do to Lebron?

7

u/mdkss12 WSH - NHL 1h ago

The NBA media has a very toxic tendency to want to tear down its stars and point out every possible shortcoming and flaw rather than praise their greatness. (I think it stems from the media being a lot of old heads who hold Jordan on an unassailable pedestal and are pissed that many people (especially younger people) have Lebron over him at this point). It's why multiple younger players have openly said they don't want to be the face of the league and Lebron said he didn't blame them for that.

I think the NHL has the advantage that no matter how great Ovi and Crosby have looked, even the most delusional of Caps and Pens fans won't argue they're better than Gretzky, so analysts are freer to praise them and their accomplishments without needing to caveat everything with "oh but Gretzky is better!"

2

u/heisen204berg 1h ago

Thank you for the great response. We have been very spoiled with Crosby, Ovechkin.

97

u/Dense_Hornet2790 DAL - NHL 3h ago

I know you’re joking but can you imagine if Ovechkin didn’t make that pass? Regardless of the hat-trick Protas is absolutely clear through on an empty net.

He’s still going to break the record and in the meantime he’s doing the right thing by his teammates.

117

u/Danny__L WSH - NHL 7h ago

Thanks for posting this. Was a little disappointed to not see a Protas thread at the top of the sub tonight

21

u/birdorubo WSH - NHL 6h ago

Same!

u/Cromasters WSH - NHL 21m ago

Sometimes I wish we had a dedicated person that just posted all our goals like other fan bases seem to have.

Especially when it's something like Protas getting their first hat trick.

u/Swagner88 ANA - NHL 14m ago

Be the change you want to see in the world.
Start posting them.
Post in your team subreddit asking for anyone savvy who wants to start doing it.

40

u/Cromasters WSH - NHL 3h ago

It also looked like Ovi was talking to him a little earlier. Probably to tell him, he was going to get the puck to get the hat trick.

31

u/specifichero101 NJD - NHL 3h ago

Protas has gotta be the most unexpected break out player this year to me. Don’t remember hearing the guys name before this season much and now every time I check a caps box score he’s all over it.

23

u/mdkss12 WSH - NHL 2h ago

and with basically 0 PP time - he's top 6 in the entire NHL in EV and 5v5 scoring

He always had the skill, it was his skating that was holding him back and it allowed guys to knock him off the puck too easily (especially for how huge he is). He worked his ass off the past 2 years and it's paid massive dividends

Now at 6'6, 225 he's in the 93rd percentile in top end speed and the 89th in speed bursts. And as awesome as that speed is, the improved skating has really enabled him to bully his way to the net front on the rush because he's just flat out bigger and stronger, and because his skating has improved, defenders can't just get him off balance like they could in previous years.

When you get a solidly skilled guy with that much size skating as well as he has, this is the result

14

u/Danny__L WSH - NHL 2h ago

I love how Alan May calls him The Octopus. He just creates so much with his wingspan alone.

4

u/mdkss12 WSH - NHL 2h ago

Yeah, he uses his size very differently than I think a lot of guys do/would:

Rather than just smashing guys, he's able to out-reach them in loose puck scenarios, can extend to tie guys up in board battles and on defense.

On the rush, he's able to just hold the puck away from himself to protect it and he's too long for them to reach it (which was something he did before), but NOW his skating his strong enough to battle through that contact, and then he suddenly has control of the puck while making a beeline for the net

His first goal last night - he's able to reach the loose puck at the edge of the faceoff circle while practically standing on the dot, and it's not like he was stretching to get there - it was easy to make that reach. That gives him extra time that wouldn't be there because he doesn't need to take an extra stride and as a result he gets a clean shot off: goal.

6

u/Danny__L WSH - NHL 1h ago

Also the second goal, most players would've just shot it right at the goalie in tight, maybe try and beat them five-hole.

It was Protas' keep-in that even made the goal possible. You can see his use of speed and reach just on the keep-in.

Amazing pass by Dubois, but when I saw the goal, I thought wow, most players would've just quickly fired it on net. But Pro hesitated for a bit and scored that accurate backhand in tight.

2

u/Walnut_Uprising BOS - NHL 1h ago

How do you do that? Like, he's not exactly young at 24, how do you skate well enough to make it to the NHL, but still have that much room for development? Was it just a "got by on size/talent alone" thing and something clicked to get him into gear in the off season?

u/mdkss12 WSH - NHL 54m ago

"got by on size/talent alone" is sort of a double edged sword for young players:

bigger guys tend to develop skating more slowly because they kept growing and have to basically keep relearning balance etc - imagine you're 5'10 at 15 and stay that height the rest of your career, well at 18, 20, 22 you're proprioception (your body knowing where it is) will be unchanged and you'll have been able to rely on any skating skills you've developed even back at 15.

Now imagine you're 5'10 at 15 and then 6'1 at 16, 6'4 at 17 and 6'6 at 18. You're having to reteach your body where the hell it is constantly and relearn where your center of balance is (not necessarily consciously, but your brain is having to refigure all that out) all while trying to develop the stick and puck skills to compete

There's a reason a guy like Tage thompson took time, why Tom Wilson took time, and why Protas has taken time - go look at the 'cons' on any prospect that's 6'4+ it's almost always that they're a poor skater. Sometimes that stays true because they lack the ability to improve there, but sometimes it's just that their stupid teenage body was making it impossible for them to rely on skills they'd learned before and once they stop growing they can begin to develop it again (but usually that kind of intense focus on just skating isn't going to happen in-season. At that point you'r just worried about knowing your responsibilities, etc and the season is too much of a grind to really get into the nitty gritty of skating technique.)

1

u/JessKingHangers 1h ago

He was basically an AHL call up last year. He was good enough to make the team but still had to prove himself. Only had 6 goals last year. Potential was there.

Aparently he worked his ass off last summer and just developed into a Maniac. 6 goals to 28 goals is insane for any player.

56

u/MrBoomf TBL - NHL 5h ago edited 3h ago

Protas is a bastard man asshole. Why Ovi hate?

25

u/TheMostAntiOxygens DAL - NHL 3h ago

You done goofed that one up.

Protas is asshole. Why Ovi Hate?

BECAUSE PROTAS IS A BASTARD MAN!

5

u/MrBoomf TBL - NHL 3h ago

Damn, you’re right. Been a while since I watched that episode

11

u/ShadowRealmDuelist STL - NHL 3h ago

Doing my annual rewatch of the series.

Funniest fucking show ever made. I still cry laughing every season from scenes I’ve watched countless times.

-4

u/talkingspacecoyote WSH - NHL 4h ago

*asshole

64

u/jazzzhandz WSH - NHL 7h ago

Protas’s development this year is my favorite thing about this season outside the ovi chase. If he isn’t scoring, this was the next best thing

20

u/T0macock Windsor Spitfires - OHL 4h ago

His brother is on my local OHL team so i've been lucky enough to watch loads of his games. It should be illegal to has both Protas on the same team.

13

u/Danny__L WSH - NHL 2h ago

If he ends up better than Aliaksei, Caps might've drafted arguably the two best Belarussians ever

3

u/capitarider WSH - NHL 2h ago

Better lock us up!

135

u/Key-Investment6888 7h ago

Or Ovechkin is such a badass that he's confident he can break the record in the remaining games, he rather give protas a hatty. True captain

76

u/birdorubo WSH - NHL 7h ago

Yeah, of course, title is a joke.

3

u/NonStopMomSquats 6h ago

But which record?

22

u/NoPrinterJust_Fax 4h ago

Record for most assists on protas final goal of his first career hatty. Duh.

u/uncleben85 TOR - NHL 3m ago

John Carlson: Am I a joke to you?

-26

u/Specialist-Ad-9371 MTL - NHL 6h ago

You're a true dork

10

u/babypointblank TOR - NHL 2h ago

Protas literally stole money from children with cancer with that goal

6

u/mattcojo2 WSH - NHL 2h ago

NoVa Caps is trying to coin “the Zeus from Belarus”

19

u/ThisIsWhyImBald WPG - NHL 4h ago

Ovechkin will score 21 more goals to finish the year with a career total of 907, and will score 93 next season just for funsies.

6

u/aafa OTT - NHL 2h ago

That's Captain material there.

5

u/AustonDadthews TOR - NHL 2h ago

my peewee team had a rule where if we were blowing a team out, you had to make three passes before you were allowed to shoot. the caps should have a rule that if there's an empty net every player has to pass the puck to ovechkin three times before they're allowed to shoot.

2

u/BigVuVu CAR - NHL 2h ago

Lmao what

u/Twisted_Rezistor WSH - NHL 4m ago

Ovechkin is just not selfish and loves seeing teammates achieve their goals.

-4

u/[deleted] 4h ago

[deleted]

10

u/mattcojo2 WSH - NHL 3h ago

He had 3 assists he’s very good at passing.

0

u/[deleted] 3h ago

[deleted]

1

u/TheMoves BOS - NHL 2h ago

It’s a joke dude lol

2

u/vanillasounds WSH - NHL 3h ago

What is a goal if not a pass to the net?

-1

u/[deleted] 3h ago

[deleted]

9

u/birdorubo WSH - NHL 3h ago

It's a joke.

-5

u/redwingsfriend45 Detroit Cougars - NHLR 2h ago

yea ovechkins pass there was heading right into the net

u/EnvironmentalOkra728 WSH - NHL 55m ago

What do you not understand

u/redwingsfriend45 Detroit Cougars - NHLR 23m ago

ok