By now, an amateur athlete is worse than a pro by definition, since a pro commits all his time to a sport, and an amateur does not. Nobody wants to see amateurs, because everybody wants to see the best. The owners are the only ones interested in protecting their "assets", but that is a short-sighted and economically unjustified approach, to say nothing of the rest.
What I want to know is - if you are a hockey fan, what can possibly be your reason for not wanting to see the best players competing against each other, representing your country?? Can someone offer a reason??? The only thing that even remotely comes to mind is that you don't want your favorite player injured... nevermind that the risk, when averaged out, is so small... but wouldn't you rather see him injured busting his rear for the glory of his country than in a regular season NHL game? Isn't a classic matchup like Russia vs. Canada in a do-or-die game orders of magnitude more exciting than Tampa Friggin Bay Lighting vs Calgary Flames? How can you not dream of seeing Nash-Thornton-Heatley head to head against Kovalchuk-Datsyuk-Kovalev, then Bertuzzi-Sakic-Gagne against Ovechkin-Yashin-whatever on the next shift??
I'm really curious whether anyone can provide a reason.. Is it fear of losing? Is it narrow provincialism? Is it a completely alien understanding of what makes hockey beautiful? What is it???