re: Ruutu
While I agree with the general point that sometimes players make it thanks to other tangibles than just their on-ice performance, let's try not to draw too many parallels. The Vancouver team was practically full of those guys born in the 70s and early 80s who had been around the NT block for 10-15 years and had used to doing things in a certain manner.
When Marjamäki starts his tenure, it's practically a fresh team where even guys with five years of NT action like Granlund and Vatanen are relative vets, and even they are already familiar with Marjamäki, both from Sochi and his U20 days. (Then again, you could say that Jalonen was not completely alien to his key players either, since many of them had featured already in the 2008 WHC team when he was Doug Shedden's co-coach.) And while they too have played with Ruutu a bit, they still represent the future and probably don't think he is as integral as someone who may have shared the locker room with him time and again and spent a dozen summers training together. Even players born in the late 80s may not mind as much as those born in the earlier half of the same decade. While just two or three years apart from him, it's hard to see guys like Lehterä, Komarov and Korpikoski who all made their senior debuts under Jalonen being disgruntled, given how little they've been influenced by the old guard who now have cleared their lockers for good.
Who could potentially mind Ruutu's absence? Well, there's forementioned Jokinen, maybe Filppula, and... well, welp. Guess I should admit it could be an issue how your captain's gonna feel about the thing, being the guy's BFF and all. And off the ice, there's GM Lehtinen who might harbor some feelings towards him.
Still, if there is an opposition, it will almost certainly be way smaller than what Jalonen had in Vancouver, and unlike JJ back then, dropping Ruutu is even easier to justify if you have better options for top-9 now and even the 4th line can be populated with guys like Komarov and Korpikoski. Not to mention Immonen, the guy who ended up taking most flak for robbing Jokinen's spot, was a complete non-factor to the squad back then and sure felt like nothing but a coach's pet to most. Probably including some of those other players. It's kinda ironic really that this was compared to JJ and Vancouver, because if Ruutu ends up being picked, it's likely not because there's a player less deserving to go - it's because *he* is the pet.
Bottom line, I don't think it's the same when you have a guy who was playing a standout season at the time compared to someone whose star seems to be waning and most fellow players from his heyday have already quit. Besides, Ruutu's contract is up too - it might be he does not even have a job in the league by the time this thing comes up. He must amp it up big time from last season's slump to remain a player of relevance to most GMs. Which would, of course, solve this issue too, making him a more justified pick. But if he doesn't, he may even have to resort to taking a PTO to some camp, in which case it would actually be idiotic for him to risk an injury playing in something that could pretty much be called an exhibition tournament of questionable prestige. And even if that last bit had a bit of my personal resentment towards this money grab seeping through, we're still talking about putting your entire career on the line for two weeks' worth of fun and games.
