Your implicit assumption is correct. The credit card company will view you more favorably if you continue to have some spending on your card through the date you cancel.

The old days of wild churning may be over because of the controls the credit card companies have instituted, but they still want to see a benefit from their association with a customer. All things being equal, a company would like you to hold the card forever, pay the annual fee every year without requesting a gift for doing so, and do all your spending on that card. That's one end of the spectrum. The other end is you get the card, meet whatever minimum spending is required, and immediately cancel the card.

Each person's got to decide where on that spectrum to cancel a card while retaining the possibility that they will continue to be an enticing potential customer to the financial institutions that issue these cards.