The Puck Stops Here

The buyout period in the NHL ended yesterday (Friday). Any player could be bought out by his team for 2/3 of the remaining money on his contract after a 24% rollback. The player then becomes an unrestricted free agent who cannot rejoin his old team under any circumstance for one season. Here is a complete list of players that were bought out:

Tony Amonte Philadelphia Flyers
Mathieu Biron Florida Panthers
Chris Gratton Colorado Avalanche
Darian Hatcher Detroit Red Wings
Bobby Holik New York Rangers
Matt Johnson Minnesota Wild
Scott LaChance Columbus Blue Jackets
John LeClair Philadelphia Flyers
Darren McCarty Detroit Red Wings
Brian Savage Phoenix Coyotes
Pierre Turgeon Dallas Stars
Ray Whitney Detroit Red Wings

Toronto has also filed paperwork to buyout Owen Nolan, but this may or may not be necessary since there is a dispute on his status.

For the most part, only the larger market teams had the money to throw at players to make them go away, so only larger market teams bought out players.