This is actually a very good move. Let him regain his confidence down there away from this mess.
Maybe. Or maybe he just says, **** it, like Doan because he feels he's ready given the opportunity and that his career and livelihood is being ruined by a coach who has sat on other successful players before.
And the part I think they really don't realize (or perhaps care) is that it doesn't need to be true for the player to buy into that mindset and become disenfranchised. These guys are watching Dvorak put up points on the 2nd line and then suddenly turned into a 4th line center and demoted, the recalled as a 4th liner again while Peter Holland is the second line center. They're watching DeAngelo become very impressive before being yoyo'ed seemingly randomly. They watched Strome lead the team in points when he was given a chance in a scoring role in the preseason, and then healthy scratched his confidence away while intermitently playing him lower in the lineup as soon as the games mattered. Chyrchrun with the constant scratches to let a waiver pick up play.
And that's just this year without the history. How hard it must be to look around the league and watch other teams' prospects thrive while the veteran team around you gives up, and the coach continues his odd obsession with marginal and sometimes questionable players who he considers to be "proven" with the magic ingredient. And again, even if Tippett's plan is golden and bulletproof, it wouldn't matter if conventional wisdom among the players sees it differently.
And now that I look at it, it sounds racist.