1.) The NHL season is longer than 36 games. It's not the number of games that matters, it's the fact this guy hasn't played hockey in 2 weeks. Sure, if they kept him out 1 or 2 games like everyone else, it's asset management. This guy hasn't played since February 10th! Of course that matters. I think you're misguided because not every team is Arizona, some teams actually care if a player contributes right away, especially buyers at the deadline. There's less incentive to trade for a player who's not even playing hockey. That's why historically players were pulled after a trade was finalized, or in motion. Heck, you would have players pulled from games because they got traded. Putting Chychrun in a bubble wrap is not confidence inspiring to anyone but you.
2.) How do we know he's healthy when he's not playing, because you said so? If anything, the idea of him having a lingering injury and being pulled makes more sense than this unprecedented take a month off while healthy for no reason.
3.) Their opinion changes based on play. If a player is playing well, it's called recency bias. It's talked about a lot. It's been proven time and time again. What do you think the value of Karlsson was last season? Were there trade talks? What about Luke Schenn? Why do players get paid more after having a career year in their UFA year, can't the teams just look at their career stats?