Rip the band-aid off or Milk it has long as you can?

The Golden State Warriors and the Tampa Bay Lightning Dynasties said goodbye to Klay Thompson and Steve Stamkos respectively as they left for free agency to go to Dallas and Nashville. I remember that the local newspaper had Seen Stamkos in the paper before the 2008 NHL Draft referencing to the Lightning having the number one overall pick which they did pick Stamkos and the next year drafted Victor Hedman second overall the next year (Center John Tavares was the first pick in 2009). By the second year together, Stamkos and Hedman nearly led the Lightning to a Stanley Cup finals but lost to the Boston Bruins. They waited nearly a decade later to win the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021. Personally, I think it should have more but what's done is done. Golden State won four NBA titles with Klay, Steph Curry, and Draymond Green. Honestly, I wished as a Lightning fan, that they would have kept Stamkos for the rest of his career and I'm sure there are Warrior fans who wanted Klay to stay in San Francisco. Which leads me to this question? Is it better to rip the band-aid off and make the changes to the team no one how painful they are like saying goodbye to players like Stamkos and Klay Thompson or Milk it is as long as you can until the player retires. The Lightning dealt with that earlier where they let go of Vinny Lecavalier and a year later traded Martin St. Louis because St. Louis threw a bitch fit over not being selected to team Canada for the 2014 Olympics being Steve Yzerman then Lightning GM and GM of team Canada. Really Dude? He was a replacement for Stamkos and won his fucking gold anyway. I like to shove that Gold Medal up his ass. Bitter, aren't I? Not nearly as much as St. Louis. Would it matter if St. Louis was there in 2014? Maybe not maybe, I think Goalie Ben Bishop missing the playoffs due to an injury hurt the Lightning more. One can make a case for St. Louis' veteran's presence. It's not just hockey it's sports in general, OK maybe not Baseball so much since they don't have a salary cap though they have the luxury tax. The NBA has the luxury tax as well as the salary cap. Most of these dynasties like the Steelers' of the 1970s, The Cowboys of the 1990s, the Bad Boy Pistons, the Celtics of the 1980s, Showtime Lakers, Jordan's Bulls, among others. The team is bad, gets high draft picks, hit on at least two of them, get good, maybe win a title or two, then the team gets old and goes on a downward spiral. It sucks but it happens. I know there has been teams like the Los Angeles Kings in the mid-2010 after winning the Cup in 2011-12 and 2013-14 that spent a lot of money to keep their core but they haven't win another cup. The same with the Pittsburgh Penguins with Sid the Kid Crosby and the Detroit Red Wings of the mid-1990s and the 2000s did the same thing and are in Cap Hell. The Red Wings haven't been the playoffs since 2015-16 even with their GM being the same GM who built the Lightning's Dynasty in Yzerman though he wasn't the GM who drafted Stamkos or Hedman. Also, another thing is players. More than likely, their going to take the highest bidder and not take the hometown discount. Not all the time but most of the time. Honestly, I don't know if I blame Stamkos or the Lightning there. Was the Lightning going to pay Stamkos eight million a year? I doubt it. Not to mention would the Lightning compete will another cup or two if they re-signed Stamkos. Maybe, Maybe not. We won't know. Will the Nashville Predators where? Maybe, maybe not. We won't know until later on. I don't envy General Managers. They got to pick who to keep and who to get rid of. When I control the franchise on Madden, I'm in cap trouble within a decade. It's not easy regardless what you chose. I think if I had to choose, I would choose Rid off the Band-aid especially with the salary cap. Can the Lightning compete for the Cup still without Stamkos? We're find out soon.