It absolutely feels like they’re trying to carve out a niche for M+ that doesn’t match the ubiquity of “kEEEEEys” in community discourse. It’s kind of like the overcorrection of heroics going from WOTLK to Cataclysm, only in this case it’s potentially motivated by re-introducing “heroics as relevant” and their new feature, delves.
I can’t imagine M+ PUG players will enjoy being told, even between the lines “Maybe heroic dungeons or delves are more your place,” but like… they aren’t obligated to make their “Esport mode” Super PUG friendly when these new and revived options exist.