Protas was one of the biggest risers in the prospects world last season. He had a very respectable 51-in-61 season as a rookie in the USHL in his draft year (that’s not an easy league to produce in as a 17-year-old, especially when your highest level of hockey previously was playing for Belarus’ U18 team), finishing second on Des Moines in scoring and eighth in the league among U18 skaters. That season, considering his profile as a 6-foot-5 forward, probably should have sent a stronger signal to me than it did (he wasn’t in my final top 100, and I considered him more of a late-rounder than a third-rounder). But nobody, the Capitals included, expected him to have the kind of season he had as a summer birthday 18-year-old OHL rookie last year, finishing second in the OHL in scoring and registering 55 goals and 149 points in 73 combined regular-season and playoff games. In Windsor, he featured prominently on the power play and penalty kill, played 20-plus minutes per game as a first-year forward and did it all after making the move from the wing with the Buccaneers to center with the Spits (though he has some work to do in the faceoff circle). He has great hands for a big man, with an ability to balance on his heels and pull pucks through and across his body to make plays both one-on-one and around the net. He understands how to hold onto and protect pucks and has a good feel over them as a passer who sees the ice well. His skating is below average by NHL standards, but passable for his size. He’s not a mean power forward type, but he has the required skills on the cycle/on tips and redirects. It’s his skill level that is ultimately pretty unique for his size. He’s quite talented and made a ton of higher-end skill plays last year with the puck on his stick. He has a pretty unique NHL profile, and it’s not hard to imagine him as a second-line forward in the NHL or a talented and one-of-one third-liner.
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241
Post Comment