Prior to his NHL career Zelepukin played with Khimik in the Soviet league and toured NHL cities with his club team in 1989, 1990 and 1991. In International Hockey he represented the Soviet Union at the 1988 World Junior Hockey Championship and at the 1991 World Hockey Championship. He was also a member of the Russian team during the 1996 World Cup of Hockey and the 1998 Olympic Games, where he was a silver medallist.

Four games into the 1995 season Zelepukin suffered an eye injury during a Devils practice that kept him out of the lineup for the balance of the regular season. He recovered sufficiently to return for the playoffs and appeared in 18 games as the Devils went on to win the Stanley Cup.

He is strong and balanced on his skates and plays with the ability to think creatively on offence while maintaining a sound defensive posture. Essentially he was the prototypical New Jersey Devil but his offensive output dropped off dramatically after his injury. His statistical maladies, coupled with the depth of two-way talent on the Devils, led to his being packaged in a four-player deal to Edmonton on January 4, 1998.

His stay with the Oilers was short-lived and he was on the move again, this time to Philadelphia, just prior to the start of the 1998-99 season. Zelepukin tuned his defensive game while with the Flyers and developed additional grit, playing on the third line. He scored five game winning goals in his first year with Philadelphia and counted three more game winners the following season.

Zelepukin signed as a free agent with the Chicago Blackhawks in the summer of 2000 and spent two seasons with the organization, splitting his time between Chicago and Norfolk before opting to return to his homeland in the summer of 2002. In 2002-03, Zelepukin joined the Russian Elite League and went on to represent Russia at the 2004 World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic.