Devante Smith-Pelly, who scored seven goals during the Washington Capitals' Stanley Cup-winning run in 2018, has signed a contract to play in the KHL.
The Kunlun Red Star, which play in China, announced they had signed the 27-year-old winger to a one-year contract.
Smith-Pelly was waived by the Capitals in February, ahead of the trade deadline, after scoring just four goals with four assists in 54 games. He later joined the Capitals in the 2019 playoffs after being recalled from the AHL.
He was with the Calgary Flames before this season on a professional tryout contract but was released by the team in September.
He was in the headlines in 2018 when four Chicago Blackhawks fans were ejected from a game for making racist comments toward him while he was in the penalty box. Smith-Pelly, who called the fans' chants of "basketball, basketball, basketball" disgusting, spoke up about the taunts because he experienced racial taunting as a teenager trying to make the NHL, but didn't tell anyone. Fellow black NHL players reached out to Smith-Pelly to thank him for speaking up.
He has 44 goals and 57 assists in eight NHL seasons.
