Five players have been placed on waivers , including one surprise

While we normally find one or two players on waivers, today, no less than five players are now available for free. (including one surprise)

Craig Smith of the Boston Bruins, Austin Czarnik of the Red Wings, Jason Demers of the Oilers, Danila Zhuravlyov of the Avalanche and Nikita Soshnikov of the Islanders have been placed on waivers.

The big surprise here is Smith, who has been an NHL regular for over 10 years and hasn't played in the AHL since 2012. (4 games) He's put up nearly 50 points per 82 games over the past five years, but this season has been tougher for him (4 points in 17 games)

He makes $3.1 million per season and he certainly wasn't expecting this news today. It will be interesting to see what happens next for him, who was normally a very established player in the NHL.

In the case of the last two names mentioned above (Zhuravlyov and Soshnikov), they were placed on the unconditional waivers in order to end their contracts.

Czarnik had three points in 11 games with the Red Wings and Jason Demers had nine assists in 24 games with the Bakersfield Condors of the AHL.