Breaking: Four players land on the waiver wire on Friday!

The holiday break is over and there is a lot of action on the waiver wire on Friday as four players across the National Hockey League landed on there. Two players have been placed on unconditional waivers in order to terminate their respective contracts, while two others are now on the wire and rival clubs could take a look at them before noon tomorrow. 

The Carolina Hurricanes have placed defenseman Michal Cajkovsky on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contact. Cajkovsky, signed to a one-year, two-way contract after attending training camp on a PTO, is expected to be headed to the KHL, per team insider Michael Smith. 

The Nashville Predators also placed a player on unconditional waivers for contract termination. The Preds have placed blue liner Joonas Lyytinen on the wire in order to put an end to his contract. 

Lyytinen came to the American Hockey League after four seasons playing in Finland’s top professional league. In 2017-18, Lyytinen competed in his first season on North American ice splitting time between the AHL and the ECHL. This season, he played 20 games with the Admirals in the AHL and collected three assists. 

The Edmonton Oilers have placed forward Valentin Zykov on the waiver wire today. It is the second time this season Zykov has landed on waivers: he was claimed by the Oilers at the end of November when he landed on the wire by the Hurricanes. Before he got to Edmonton, Zykov had split time between the Hurricanes and their minor league affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers. In 13 games with Carolina the 23 year-old had three assists. However, in five contests with the Oilers, the Russian forward did not record a single point. 

As for the Anaheim Ducks, the team placed defensemen Jake Dotchin on waivers as well. Back in October, the defenseman had signed with the Ducks following a controversial situation with his former club, the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

Dotchin was waived by the Lightning in September for the purposes of terminating his contract due to what the team termed a “material breach of contract.” The issue stemmed from Dotchin showing up to training camp out of shape, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

"From what I heard, it was extreme, he wasn’t just out of shape, he was extremely out of shape, we had heard he showed up with 25% body fat, that’s way too high for an NHLer," had explained the NHL insider. 

Since joining the Ducks, Dotchin has only put up an assist and a -3 rating in 16 games.