Despite recent performance, Leipsic says he has no chance of playing at the Olympics

With the NHL withdrawing from the Beijing Olympics in February, teams are scrambling to find players from other leagues to make up their rosters for the Winter Olympics. Despite being one of the top scorers in the KHL, Brendan Leipsic says he realizes he has no chance of making Team Canada for the Games.

"To be honest, I wasn't surprised that I wasn't called up. No one from the Canadian team contacted me. All because of my reputation in Canada," Leipsic told Championat.com. I have no chance of making it to the Olympics."

Leipsic has been playing with Magnitogorsk Metallurg of the KHL this season where he has 14 goals and 30 points in 38 games. As you may recall, Leipsic was released from his contract with the Washington Capitals in May of 2020 after the contents of a private Instagram chat group were made public. Leipsic and Jack Rodewald made misogynistic and derogatory remarks about the girlfriend of Connor McDavid and the wife of Tanner Pearson. Leipsic also took shots at his then-current Capitals teammates Garnet Hathaway and Nic Dowd. Leipsic issued an apology, but was put on unconditional waivers by the Capitals two days later and his contract was subsequently terminated. Leipsic insisted in his latest interview that he's learned from his mistake.

"I made a mistake and learned from it. It's in the past, I did a lot to get better, and now I move on," Leipsic said. "Everyone has their own opinion, but now I try to make a good impression, to show that I have changed and learned a lesson from my mistake. Happy with what I have now, I am much happier than I was before, my life is better. It's a cliché, but nothing just happens. I'm a better person after all that."

Still, Leipsic says he knows that won't be good enough to make the Canadian Olympic team.

"I haven't thought about it because I know I don't have a chance. If they didn't take me to the Channel One Cup, they won't call me to the Olympics."

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