Capitals’ Ilya Protas Named AHL Rookie of the Year for 2025-26 – The Hockey Writers – Washington Capitals

A member of the Washington Capitals organization has some new hardware after Ilya Protas was voted as the winner of the Dudley (Red) Garrett Memorial Award as the American Hockey League’s (AHL) outstanding first-year player for the 2025-26 season. Protas, 19, is the first member of the Hershey Bears to win the award since goaltender Ron Hextall claimed the honor in 1985-86. It is only the second time a member of the Bears organization has been awarded the AHL’s Rookie of the Year. 

“It feels great,” Protas told Monumental Sports Network’s Katie Florio on April 23. “Really proud and happy to get that. I wouldn’t have done it without my teammates, without the coaching staff, and the staff in general, so they help me a lot. Obviously, that’s (the award) big, but regular season is behind (us) and focusing on the playoffs and Game 2.”  

The younger Protas had his focus in the right place by helping Hershey complete a two-game series sweep over the Bridgeport Islanders in the Atlantic Division first round. Ilya scored the empty-net goal of a 2-0 shutout win in Game 1 and assisted on Andrew Cristall’s opening goal in Game 2.

In an admittedly small sample size of just one or two postseason games per skater, Protas’ two points have him tied with Cristall for sixth place in AHL playoff scoring through two games. Teammate Bogdan Trineyev leads Hershey with three points (one goal and two assists) during the ongoing 2026 AHL postseason. Hershey joins the Providence Bruins and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the Atlantic Division Semifinals. The Charlotte Checkers and Springfield Thunderbirds are scheduled to wrap up their series this weekend. Charlotte leads the series, 1-0.

During the 2025-26 AHL regular season, Protas led all rookies in scoring, while placing sixth in the league among all players with 66 points. Protas scored 29 goals and 37 assists in 69 games to set the tone for Hershey as the team leader in goals, points, power-play goals (11), and plus/minus rating (plus-17). His performance this season is the fourth-most in AHL history from a first-year player, and the most points recorded by a Bears rookie since Craig Fisher in 1990-91. 

The 6-foot-6 center’s performance in the minor league earned him a four-game recall to Washington for the final four games of the Capitals’ season. Due to his status as Aliaksei Protas’ younger sibling, Ilya has affectionately become known as “Little Pro” around the Beltway. The teenage forward scored his first NHL goal in his second contest and totaled four points in four games. Ilya was mentioned by Alex Ovechkin as a potential positive on the ledger for the league’s regular-season scoring champion to return for one more twirl around NHL ice. “You can see it, Leon (Ryan Leonard), Little Pro, Huts (Cole Hutson), they are going to be great players in this league,” Ovechkin said during the last day of the Capitals’ media availability this season. 

If you’ve been following along on PuckPedia, you’re likely well aware that Washington has approximately $36.5 million in cap space to sign Ovechkin (unrestricted free agent) and Connor McMichael (restricted free agent). By using ballpark figures for Ovechkin’s contract ($9.5 million in 2025-26 to a team-friendly $10 million in 2026-27) and McMichael’s deal ($2.5 million in 2025-26 doubled to $5 million on a multi-year extension), we can speculate that Washington will have approximately $20 million to adjust the roster during the 2026 offseason. Younger forwards, such as Leonard or “Little Pro”, will be important building blocks for constructing a playoff-bound squad next spring.