Is it possible to get back a domain name after you let it expire??

[#1]

A couple years ago I bought a domain name which was my name with a .com extension. I ended up letting it expire. Then I wanted to buy it back a year later, but some company I think dropcatch or namebright or something ended up buying my expired domain name. I've waited a year based on the whois record to see when it expired. After that date passed I looked on namecheap to see if I could buy it and it still has the same offer of paying $600 to buy it from a partner. I don't think I'm quite understanding what the expiration date means. I know when/if I could buy it back that the data from the previous namespace/alias/records/etc. are going to be completely different, but still want to get my domain at the original price of $13.