This isn't 50 years ago. The national team isn't the only way to grow the game. The Internet is widespread now. Anyone can purchase game center and watch streams of the games from all over the world. It's easier to follow a sport now from anywhere than ever before.
I think it's ridiculous to think owners should send their investments overseas for two weeks and take a huge risk that they harm their product. Very few businesses would take that sort of chance.and hockey actually does that MORE than almost any American sport. You have junior players going to the world juniors. You have professionals going to the world championships every year (sometimes just a day or two after being eliminated). You don't see that in NFL at all. You don't see that in baseball at all other than young players going to the Arizona fall league or the WBC every 4 years.'
What it comes down to is your arguing ownership and the league should have even more of a long term vision with regards to the Olympics and national participation to (further) increase interest in less known hockey countries. The main problem with this is you won't see any results from it for 20+ years by which team a large percentage of people involved with the league won't be in the league anymore so you are saying they should place a greater emphasis on growing the game for the future that they likely won't be involved in rather than worrying about the teams that they are currently working for/owning. Very very few people have this outlook and most people look out for themselves and try to increase profits as much as they can now (this is especially true for owners of teams who have mostly all made their own large fortunes)
Maybe they should consider it payback for the hours and hours and millions of dollars the local federations put into development of these owner's "investments". Teams and leagues are payed little or no compensation when sending a player to the NHL, even if it means losing an attraction from the club, league and the national team.
When the best players can't even be made available for a tournament every four years, you are stuck watching second (or in Norway's case often third) rate players in the national league, or as some of us idiots do, spend your nights watching the best play in the NHL.
For hockey-interested adults that's fine, but it's no way to get kids into the game, and it's no way to get those semi-interested to elevate their level of commitment.