Ilya Protas shines for Hershey, earns AHL Rookie of the Month honors

Ilya Protas did not just have a good month. He delivered the kind of April that changes how a playoff team looks at its rookie. His five-assist, six-point eruption in Hershey’s 8-1 win at Hartford on April 4 was the loudest game of the spring, and it came with real historical weight, since it was the first six-point night by a Bears player since Mathieu Perreault did it in 2010 and the first six-point AHL game by any player since Alan Quine in 2019.

That opening blast set the tone for a month that earned Protas AHL Rookie of the Month honors. In six April games, he piled up 11 points, scoring two goals and adding nine assists, while continuing to look like a player whose offense translates no matter where he is skating. The Washington Capitals recalled him on April 6, and two days later he made his NHL debut at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena, picking up an assist in that first game. He did not stop there. On April 11 in Pittsburgh, Protas posted a goal and two assists in Washington’s 6-3 win, showing the same touch and timing that had made him so dangerous in Hershey.

The returns to Hershey mattered just as much. After a four-game NHL stay, Protas came back and helped the Bears clinch a Calder Cup Playoffs berth with two assists in a 5-1 win over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on April 15. Hershey’s postseason spot was its 73rd since joining the AHL in 1938, a number that underlines the standard in that room. On April 19, Protas finished the regular season with another goal and assist in a 5-4 overtime win against Rochester, a clean final statement before the games that really matter begin.

For Hershey, the bigger point is not the monthly trophy. It is what Protas did over the full season and what that production means now. The 19-year-old led the Bears in goals, points, power-play goals and plus/minus, was named to the 2025-26 AHL All-Rookie Team, and later took home Hershey’s Jack Gingrich Award as rookie of the year. That is not depth scoring. That is a rookie driving offense for a 13-time Calder Cup champion.

The Capitals took Protas in the third round of the 2024 NHL Draft, and the family angle only adds to the storyline. His older brother, Aliaksei Protas, won a Calder Cup with Hershey in 2023 and has already played 317 NHL games with Washington. Ilya’s April said something sharper than promise: when the pressure rose, he did not disappear. He got more dangerous.