Aliaksei Protas will have the opportunity to play professionally in his native Belarus until the new NHL and WHL seasons begin in December. (Lucas Chudleigh/Apollo Multimedia)

By Trevor Redden

On Loan

Protas loaned to KHL, will return to North America before WHL starts

Aug 7, 2020 | 1:18 PM

Prince Albert Raiders star forward Aliaksei Protas has been loaned to Dinamo Minsk of the Kontinental Hockey League to begin the 2020-21 season.

With yesterday’s news of the WHL schedule being pushed back to December, a window has been created for Protas to compete at the highest level in his home country to start the season in September before coming back to North America.

“We’ve loaned him with the blessing of the Washington Capitals [who he is signed with], he’s going to join Dinamo Minsk in his hometown which is a great opportunity for him. He’ll be playing with the men in the KHL,” Hunt explained.

Now that the start of the WHL is lined up with the start of the NHL, Protas will leave Minsk to attend Washington Capitals training camp in November, and at that point his two options are to make the NHL roster, a rare feat for a 19-year-old, or be returned to Prince Albert to start the new season.

While many other players will be doing their best to simulate on-ice competition in the lead-up to December, Protas will have the advantage of having months of professional play behind him at the time.

Event Centre funding

City may hire lobbyist for event centre money

2h ago

International honours

Raiders' Kubiesa to represent Czechia at IIHF U18 Men's World Championship

5h ago

Learn the signs

How often should you change your brakes?

9h ago

“It’s similar to the difference between elimination play and round robin play right now in the NHL,” Hunt explained. “The [play-in round] is allowing teams to get against some live fire and get their body in some bump and grind shape and certainly what it takes to play playoff hockey.”

The Raiders announced Ilya Usau is also with Dinamo Minsk on a tryout basis, and could find himself in a similar situation as Protas.

“The next step is for Dinamo Minsk to find out what they want to do with him. If they want to keep him a bit longer, we create the same kind of loan agreement and then it’s our right of recall upon the start of our season. For Ilya to advance beyond exhibition play would be fantastic,” Hunt said.

In 2019-20, Protas led the Raiders in scoring with 31 goals and 49 assists in 58 games. Usau was the highest-scoring rookie with 22 goals and 20 assists, also in 58 games.

–

trevor.redden@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Trevor_Redden