Lauri Korpikoski said he never expected a buyout, so when the Edmonton Oilers cut him loose last summer, he didn't really know what to do.
"I was surprised. I didn't hear anything about it beforehand, so you just wait and see and hope for the best," Korpikoski said of the Oilers' decision to eat the final year of his contract, which was scheduled to pay him $2.5 million. "Fortunately, I had the World Cup of Hockey [in September], and I knew when I was there I was still an NHL player and a good player in the league, and that really helped me deal with everything.