This is true, but keep in mind that none of these were anything close to being a "best on best" tournament. These ran during April/May, so most of the best players were still in the NHL playoffs. And many players chose to skip it, even if they were available, because it didn't have close to the same level of prestige as the Olympics.
As one example (and you can pick other years and see the same thing) - in the 1999 tournament, the Canadian team was missing Roy, Brodeur, Belfour, Pronger, MacInnis, Stevens, Bourque, Sakic, Yzerman, Lindros, Kariya, Fleury, Shanahan, Robitaille, etc. The Swedish team was missing Lidstrom, Forsberg, Selanne, Sundin, etc. The Russian team was missing Fedorov, Bure, Zubov, etc. The Americans were missing Modano, Hull, Nieuwendyk, Chelios, Leetch, Hatcher, Roenick, LeClair, Amonte, Tkachuk, etc. The same (general) pattern is true in 2000 and 2001. There were so far from being a best-on-best tournament that it doesn't tell us much.