Jalen Smereck’s contract with HC Donbass has been mutually terminated, the team announced on Sunday.

Smereck was the victim of an on-ice racist gesture from HC Kremenchuk forward Andri Denyskin earlier in the Ukrainian Hockey League season.

Denyskin was ejected from the game between the two teams after taunting Smereck, who is Black, by mimicking peeling a banana and pretending to eat it.

In the aftermath of the incident, Smereck announced that he would be taking a personal leave of absence until Denyskin was suspended and removed from the league.

Instead, the UHL gave Denyskin a 13-game suspension and a fine for the racist act.

TSN Hockey Insider Chris Johnston has reported that Smereck, who spent the previous three seasons in the AHL, has heard from multiple clubs interested in signing him.

"Jalen Smereck has some options here developing and one of those paths is coming back to North America," Johnston said on the September 30 edition of Insider Trading. "He is a native of Detroit, he spent the last couple seasons in the American Hockey League and there have been multiple AHL teams that have reached out to his representative to see if there might be a fit and perhaps a home for him back here.”