You still don't get it. This is not the NFL.
NHL prospects often need 5-6 years to marinade before they will be impact players in the league.
When you were screaming to trade everyone under the sun back in 2021, the young guys were too young to carry the weight of the core. Trading picks and prospects back then would only drain the farm, and the guys you brought in 3 years ago would be all UFAs now, and riding off to greener pastures with other teams, or demanding huge UFA contracts that this team could not fit under the cap. The team would be devoid of young talent on ELCs coming up through the pipeline to infuse talent into the roster on the cheap(because you traded all those picks 3 years ago), and would have to bargain-bin shop the UFA leftovers for the only guys you could afford, more tired 7th defensemen and 13th forwards that would be willing to come here for league min.
Reality is, had Adams sold off the picks and prospects that early in the rebuild, the team likely would have made the playoffs as a bubble team, been bounced in the first round and be looking at a disappointing future now.
Timing.
Is.
Everything.