The Russian U-20 team has announced a preliminary roster for upcoming World Junior Championship. The most important information for Tampa Bay Lightning fans is Alexei Lipanov who is absent even in the preliminary roster.
Alexei played only one game during Canada-Russia series in November and the coaching staff wasn’t very impressed by his game, so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that he didn’t get an invite to camp. His stats at the OHL also didn’t help him. Before this season, he was traded from the Sudbury Wolves to the Kitchener Rangers and has posted 12 points (6+6) in 22 games, which is not very impressive numbers at this level.