What may have really played a role here is that the Canucks were really vying for a playoff spot around the TDL from a mathematical standpoint. Whether you gave them a good chance or not at actually contending is one thing, but they were riding a lot of momentum and were very much in the race.
This put more options on the table for the Canucks. They no longer "had" to trade Miller because at the time, they themselves had a vested interest in Miller's play for the rest of the year and they also may have thought if Miller keeps this up, they may want to take a real run at trying to resign him for themselves. They had more to consider at this point. Thus, any offer for Miller would've had to be real good to make them wipe all of the options off the table and trade Miller at this TDL.
They still have all of their options still remaining. If they end up trading Miller and it's theoretically less than what they could've had this TDL, the difference was still probably worth it to the Canucks to keep all options on the table for as long as they could. Keeping options open in order to make the best informed decision in the end, is still a cost many people are willing to make. Nothing wrong with that.
