Denied TN - 9th Year

I have applied for one-year TNs without problems or incident for the past 9 years - until now. The USCIS officer denied me on the grounds that I had worked in the USA for too long, I had a full-time job, and that I had the intent of establishing permanent residency in the US. However, he let me re-enter the US and continue with my existing TN until it expires in April. He also did not keep the documentation that I submitted to him, nor open my sealed transcripts.

Question #1: Did I actually get denied or did he read my employment letter and just hand it back to me? Is there a note in the USCIS system that says I got denied?

I plan to fly back to Canada to reapply, but this time for only 6 to 8 months and with language that clearly states that I will be terminated from my position and will not be needed in the future. I want to return in order to complete as many of my company's projects as possible before returning to Canada, and to allow me enough time to organize my move.

Question #2: Do you think I'm going to be denied a 6 to 8 month stay? If I am denied, will I be banned from reentering the US in the future for business purposes/ leisure purposes?

If you got formally denied, there is a record of it in the system. However it sounds odd to let someone back in on a current I-94 if you had been.

Just because you've been denied doesn't mean you can't enter again under some other category (unless you've received a formal denial and they ban you for ten years - you'd know if you had). But there will be a note in the system, so you'll have to go to secondary inspection and convince them.