Or, in some sense, there's something to be said for a comparison to the cautionary tale of Rascal "Pascal" Dupuis-- a guy who was a battler, who kept trying to come back long after he was at his most effective, and ended up being forced to retire by his doctors (not the team or coaching staff) after he nearly ended up killing himself to play.
At some point, you have to let these guys go, even if they're unique, or they have heart, or they're leaders. The only ones who have the luxury of not having to go through with this would be Crosby and Malkin, and largely because I can see both of them getting out when they feel they're no longer able to compete instead of trying to will themselves into the lineup one more time.
What was the key Ray Shero era mistake? Holding on to guys on the bench and on the ice too long. The JR era mistake seems to be the opposite-- too many trades, too many flash signings, too much overcorrection. But I don't really think you'd find a GM to take over that wouldn't fall into one of those two categories.
