from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

Break up the NHL Eastern Conference champions? You betcha, for the combination of free agency and life in a restrictive hard-cap world will ensure the Rangers’ 2014-15 team photo will look significantly different from the one that was snapped during the Stanley Cup finals.

At least five, and perhaps six, of the 18 skaters who competed against the Kings in the elimination Game 5 double-overtime defeat in LA on June 13 were all but gone on the eve of Tuesday’s opening of the free-agent market, with Brad Richards (buyout) and Derek Dorsett (trade to Vancouver) already out of the picture.

Second-pair right defenseman Anton Stralman, second-line winger Benoit Pouliot and fourth-line winger Brian Boyle all are likely to be receiving their mail at new addresses following a lead-in to free agency during which management concluded the market would be too rich in these cases for the club’s liking.

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