Putin grants citizenship to Canadian Jewish hockey player
Canadian forward of the St. Petersburg KHL club SKA Brendan Laipsik received Russian citizenship. The corresponding decree of President Vladimir Putin was published on the official portal of legal information.
The 29-year-old athlete has been playing in the KHL since 2020. Before that, he played in the NHL, where he played 187 games for Toronto, Vegas, Vancouver, Los Angeles and Washington. The player's sports career began in the WHL. Lipsik was also a member of the Canadian national junior team and was repeatedly recognized as the “best Jewish athlete” in his native Winnipeg.
In the KHL he played for CSKA and Metallurg. Last June he signed a two-year contract with SKA. The head coach of the team, Roman Rotenberg, announced the athlete’s desire to obtain Russian citizenship back in the summer of last year, admitting that in the future Laipsic would be able to play for the national team. This season, due to injury, Brendan Laipsik played only 14 matches, scoring 4 (2+2) points.