The Washington Capitals have signed forward Aliaksei Protas to a 5 year, $16.875M contract extension the club announced late Friday.
The 23 year old currently has 18 points (3G, 15A) in 42 contests with Washington in 2023-24, which represents a career high point total with half a season still to go. The 6’6″ Belarussian’s development has been a slow and steady process since the Capitals took him 91st overall in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, but the front office remains high on his potential to be an impact power forward for years to come.
“Aliaksei is a young and talented player, and we are excited to sign him to a long-term contract,” Capitals GM Brian MacLellan said in a team release. “He has taken great strides in his professional career, and we expect him to continue to improve and play a pivotal and impactful role on this team for many years to come.”
His new deal will feature a $3.375M cap hit, and will feature $2M signing bonuses in the first 2 years of the deal, and $1M bonuses across the final 3. Getting a deal done now avoids having Protas become a restricted free agent at season’s end, and negates the need for an often messy arbitration process.
Across 133 career NHL games, the towering forward has collected 10G and 32A, all with the Capitals organization. Protas is only the 2nd Washington player to receive a contract to keep him in DC past the 2027-28 campaign, joining Tom Wilson in that category for an aging Caps core.
Photo: Keith Allison. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.