But you are asking teams to pay for your projection. That's not how it works in reality. GMs don't do that.

Prove to me that GM does not pay for projection while everything as analytics is used for such reason.

They rarely do. Look at HuGo, he's one of the few that "kind of" pays for projection and even they acquired picks only experienced players. Case in point Dach (a former 3OA pick) was traded for 12OA. He was projected based on his draft pedigree to be a top line center.

When is the last top line Center who got traded for only a 12OA? Typically they receive multiple premium assets as we saw with Lindholm & Horvat in recent years.

Maybe Im confused, but with the ton of impact prospects that MTL has, half are a yr or two away, maybe I dont think MTL's window is 23-24 or 24-25, so why do some MTL fans not want picks (assets) and just want players for now? Wouldn;t you rather have the assets (picks) for addressing weaknesses at the end of 24-25 or 25-26 than a quick fix that might fit the bill this yr and next?

Farrell, Reinbach, Maillot, Mesar, Heineman, Mysak, Barron, Tuch, Kidney, Hutson (great prospect pool) are all just arrived in minors or are not there yet? And the established youngsters in the NHL are hardly aging in Suzuki, Beck, Caulfield, Slaf, Guhle, Struble and X.

Im just unsure why some MTL fans are looking for what they call "aging players" or when theyre talking about their window, what is that window?

I gues IMO, their window hasn;t really opened yet, they're still riding out the bad deals/contracts/situations of Anderson, Dvorak, Price, Armia, Pearson, Gallagher and having the youth arrive in a steady stream. Why trade 2 young dmen and 2 picks for an aging Andersson?

And while I agree that Barron and Harris are probably the odd men out as the higher end youngsters arrive, how they can be so good and expendable at the same time?