After spending two picks in the fourth and sixth rounds on defenseman, the Tampa Bay Lightning selected another forward in Russian left-winger Mikhail Shalagin as the 198th overall pick. He’s 19 years old and spent last seasons sharing ice time between multiple minor Russian leagues in the MHL and VHL. Shalagin was undrafted in 2017 and 2018 and was close to remaining undrafted again in 2019.
Shalagin drew a lot of attention after his last season in MHL. He scored 48 goals in 43 games for the MHK Spartak Moskva (HC Spartak Moskva affiliate). Overall, he recorded 75 points and was the second highest scorer in the whole league.