One thing I always appreciated about McKay's time as a Devil, was that it ended when it was supposed to. We didn't keep him longer than we should have. He eventually did fall off completely, but it was with the Habs. They bought him out and he retired right after. I also felt that way about Claude, though I would have loved to keep him for just another year. I could argue that we would have won the cup in 2001 if we still had Claude. Bobby Holik said the same thing. He signed some stupid 4 year contract (at age 35) with Phoenix and then ended up in Dallas, where they eventually bought out the last year of his deal. A 4 year contract for a 35 year old was very rare 15 years ago.
Madden was another one we moved on from at the right time. Sadly we've had Pandolfo, Salvador, and Zubrus, who I can't say the same for.