A whopping 61 players land on waivers, including top names!

The NHL waiver wire is absolutely loaded Friday, with a staggering 61 players placed on waivers as teams continue trimming their rosters ahead of the regular season.

The Anaheim Ducks led off with five players: Sean Farrell, Nathan Gaucher, James Hamblin, Corey Schueneman and Jett Woo.

The Boston Bruins also placed five players on the wire, including Brendan Gaunce, Brian Halonen, Jordan Harris, goaltender Jiri Patera and Billy Sweezey.

The Buffalo Sabres were the busiest team of the day, placing eight players on waivers: Mason Geertsen, Dennis Gilbert, Ryan Johnson, Trevor Kuntar, Aidan McDonough, Carson Meyer, Jason Polin and goaltender Matt Villalta.

The Carolina Hurricanes added five names: Skyler Brind’Amour, Aleksi Heimosalmi, Juha Jaaska, Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Justin Robidas.

The Columbus Blue Jackets placed Corson Ceulemans and Colton White on waivers.

The Calgary Flames also had one of the largest groups with eight players: Michael Benning, Andreas Englund, Dryden Hunt, Ben Jones, Rory Kerins, Jake Livingstone, Sam Morton and William Strömgren.

The Chicago Blackhawks placed defenseman Connor Mackey on the wire.

The Edmonton Oilers were also quite active on their roster transactions on Friday, moving 15 players around, including Josh Brown, Riley Stillman and Eduards Tralmaks being placed on waivers.

The Nashville Predators had Hunter Skinner placed on the wire, while the New York Rangers waived Anton Blidh, Marc Del Gaizo, Glenn Gawdin and William Trudeau.

The San Jose Sharks placed Eric Comrie and Jimmy Huntington on waivers. The St. Louis Blues waived Jack Finley, Oskar Sundqvist and Nathan Walker, while the Tampa Bay Lightning added Simon Lundmark, Olivier Rodrigue and Steven Santini, while the Washington Capitals waived Joshua Dunne, Mitchell Gibson, Jacob MacDonald and Bogdan Trineyev.

In Utah, forwards Brandon Tanev and Joshua Roy and defenseman Zac Jones have been placed on Waivers for the purpose of being assigned to Tucson. I bet Tanev had his signature surprised look when the news hit.

Finally, the Winnipeg Jets placed Nikita Chibrikov, Parker Ford, Noah Gregor and Isaak Phillips on the wire.

With 61 players now available on the wire, there could be plenty of intrigue once the rest of the league gets a chance to evaluate the list. Several recognizable names are suddenly facing uncertain futures just days before the regular season begins.