As mysteriously he appeared, he was gone.

A mere 24 hours after acquiring him alongside Jack Rathbone in a trade from the Vancouver Canucks, forward Karel Plasek has been placed on unconditional waivers for the purposes of contract termination by the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Assuming no one claims Plasek, he will officially be a free agent as of 2pm tomorrow (Thursday), where he likely will sign to play somewhere in Europe.

With Plasek’s impending departure, the Penguins clear up a contract spot, now sitting at 49 of 50 available slots. That flexibility allows Pittsburgh to bring in someone else, either via trade or a waiver claim, down the line.

Of course, to do that, the Penguins would still have to move out some salary, given that the team only has $170,658 in cap space per CapFriendly.

However, this move eliminates the first hurdle to any additional in-season moves, by clearing up a contract slot.

Plasek was a long-shot candidate to rise the ranks in the Penguins’ system, having so little North American experience in his professional career. The 23 year old Czechia native had a mere 8 games of North American experience, all coming with the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League during the 2021-22 season.

Injuries have hampered his playing time since being drafted by Vancouver in the sixth round back in 2019.

Last year, Plasek was on lone to HC Olomouc of the Czech League, where he registered 15 points in 31 games, and 5 points in 7 playoff games.

In the trade announcement, the Penguins stated that Plasek would be assigned to the team’s ECHL affiliate, the Wheeling Nailers. He had not played hockey at any level to start the season in Vancouver’s system.

Soon to be an unrestricted free agent, a return to his Czech team last season is most likely.