Pierre Dorion also said in pre-season he was continuing to negotiate with Turris and felt he'd get a deal done. All the while he was shopping him. He said he wasn't shopping Phaneuf in the summer, he's gone.
Are you seriously this naive?
Well, on the one hand you can definitely discuss trades for a player at the same time as negotiating contracts. It would be a prudent move if you have any doubt that a deal may get done, especially when you're looking at the start of the season getting closer. It is possible to feel like you can get a deal done, and then start to feel like one won't get done after negotiations progress. Also, you can be working at getting a deal done right up until the moment where you realize that you can get Duchene for real, at which time you do the trade. Turris may not have wanted to leave, but I don't see how the situation was handled poorly at all. No one would want to hear Dorian say that he was lukewarm about resigning Turris the whole time, and when he was finally able to get the better player that he wanted to sign, he couldn't do the trade fast enough.
Dion was traded at the TDL, so while he was clearly discussed with LA, it doesn't mean that it started in the summer. I would imagine that LA had made their interest known well before, and once the season was lost the conversation became more serious.
There is also a difference between listening to offers, having general conversations, and shopping a player. You can can admit to one while denying doing the other. I think "shopped" means that GMs are actively contacting other GM's to trade the player. There is a small but important distinction between trying to trade a player, and listening to offers and even negotiating said offers.
I think we can all agree that no player is untraceable if the right offer is made, and when dealing with top players, from a position of strength, you really can command the price it would take to move the player, and stick to it.
