I took a quick look at the tournament history. I only see two meaningful victories ever, where a developing country beat one of the BIG 7. By meaningful I mean either a QF, SF or Gold Medal game. Switzerland has two QF victories, one against Slovakia in 2002, and another against Sweden in 1998.
To date Switzerland has only developed a total of four NHL regular players, two back up goalies, one centre and one defenceman. This shows me they are still way behind the BIG 7 in terms of player development.
For years I have heard about how the Swiss are on the verge of becoming a hockey power.
Not gonna happen!
You have to consider that 10 years ago (1997), there were no Swiss: first round drafts, no player in the OHL/WHL/QMJHL, no player in the NHL, no significant reasults in the WJ, nor at the Olympics or at the World Championship. Since then, six players have played in the NHL (with first and second rounders); there are now a handful players in the AHL and in the Canadian junior leagues. Switzerland reached 3rd in the 1998 in the WJ, 4th the same year at the World Championship, they beat both Russia and Canada.
That is a decent improvement. They won't become a "hockey power" anytime soon (and here I agree with you) as there junior development program, while quite productive is not competitive enough, but I would say the progress they made is noticeable. So I don't agree with the idea that this tournament should be reserved to the big 7 (or 8): I think that those so-called "smaller teams" (i.e. Switzerland, Belarus, Germany, etc.) have shown that they have to be respected for what they have acomplished. Belarus beat Finland, Germany has beaten the US, Switzerland has beaten Slovakia. That's not bad, isn't it?