St Kilda cut two battle-hardened players after collecting the AFL wooden spoon when clobbered by Adelaide by 79 points on Sunday.
Defender James Gwilt and utility Clinton Jones have been told they won't be offered fresh contracts at the Saints, who finished bottom for the first time since 2000.
St Kilda's season, and Lenny Hayes's esteemed career, finished on a sour note when crunched by the Crows, who won 22.9 (141) to 9.8 (62) at Adelaide Oval.
Hayes set a new AFL record for the most tackles - adding 13 on Sunday for a career tally of 1496, six more than the ex-Sydney stalwart Jude Bolton.
"It doesn't mean a great deal," Hayes said.
"It's something I might look back and tell my son one day, that I used to go alright.
"But it's not one of those things that you place too much emphasis on."
Hayes's retirement and the delistings of Gwilt, a 28-year-old 126-gamer, and Jones, a 149-game veteran aged 30, immediately open up three spots on St Kilda's list.
Coach Alan Richardson said the Saints would again turn to the draft, rather than recycled players from other clubs.
"We still need to bring in some talent," Richardson said after his first season as a senior coach delivered just four wins.
"That is the journey we're on. We need to bring in young players.
"I think both those guys (Gwilt and Jones) could still potentially play a role depending where other footy clubs are at. But given where we're at ... we need to go to the draft."
St Kilda's shortcomings were exposed by an Adelaide outfit who finished 10th with 11 wins and 11 losses.
The Crows, beaten preliminary finalists in 2012, missed the finals for the second year in a row but coach Brenton Sanderson refused to describe the year as a failure.
"Our objective was to make the eight, we didn't make the eight, so it's disappointing," he said.
"There's some opportunities missed, without question .. we can't make the same mistakes next year."
Sanderson's Crows were ruled out of pinching eighth spot when Richmond sealed that position with a win against Sydney on Saturday.
"It was tough to come to work today ... but there is noone to blame but us," he said.
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