To call Olaf Kölzig German is a bit of a stretch. Yes he is a citizen (through his father??), and yes he has played for Germany, but he is 100% a product of North American hockey. My understanding is that he has never actually lived in Germany, and even struggles a bit with the language.
His name sounds really German though!
It's not a stretch at all.
He's German because he was born to German parents. He grew up in Denmark, spent the summers in Germany, before going over to Canada. By now he has zero trouble speaking German.
Heck, Uwe Krupp had trouble speaking German when he became assistant and later head coach of team Germany. It simply happens when you don't really get to use a language all that often.
If someone was never anything but a German, how can it be a stretch to call him one?
Whether he is a product of North Amerian hockey or not, doesn't matter one bit, nor does it have anything to do with the topic.
As for Germany having more time to prepare for international tournaments, heck no!
They have a minor advantage at the regular World Championship, but even then do they miss quite a lot of players because the playoffs aren't over at that point. Not to mention that unlike the big nations, Germany is really hurt by not having their NHL-players.
It is one thing to miss top players when you still have lots of NHL-stars available, it's something entirely different when you are without all your star-players.
Just take the defense, the difference between the German top 4 and the rest of the defensemen is as big as the difference between Anaheim's top 3 and the rest of their defense, it's like night and day. Without their top-4, Germany's defense has no offense whatsoever, is much slower and not nearly as good defensively.
That's the big advantage Switzerland has over Germany. They do have almost all their skilled players in Europe, and can play all the tournaments together. That may change in the future, with more and more Swiss players going to North America, but right now they still have that advantage.
Smaller countries might actually be hurt much more by the NHL-playoffs than the big nations are, because they lose a much higher percentage of their star-players, simply because they have less.
IIHF rules are not an advantage or disadvantage for anyone. The big 7 are full of players who have played in Europe or one of the big tournaments before, they know the rules.
The only thing I can agree with, is the drop in talent after the big 7, which is quite large and won't be closed anytime soon.