Those folks don't exist because (a) Phoenix sports radio doesn't talk about the Coyotes except occasionally in the hourly news updates and when they're forced to talk to Doan, Tippett, or Maloney, and (b) the "casual" Phoenix fan doesn't bother to go to games or listen to sports radio, they just catch a bit of a game on the TV.
Maloney was speaking directly to the room and the players, and more specifically to Shane Doan. Doan is having a career year and Maloney is terrified that he's going to prejudice him from resigning with the Coyotes if he doesn't retire. It's why he didn't trade "character" guys like Chipchura and Grossmann, too. The last thing Maloney wanted to convey to the players was that he was going to give up on the season and maximize assets, because while that appeals greatly to us who have no skin in the game outside of fandom and ticket purchases, that does not appeal at all to the guys who do this as a job.
Maloney wants his room to stay positive, partially because of the young guys so they won't fall into bad habits and attitudes, but mostly because the quality of the room is literally one of GMDM's only marketable assets to future FA and prospects who he needs to sign to contracts. So he maintains the fiction that they're still competitive even though it's clearly no longer the case.