I did say "Top" sports leagues. Top leagues players don't make less than i do! The NHL has an average franchise values of just shy of a billion dollars. Its 30 billion dollar valuation is 5 times its normal annual revenues of 6 billion. The Euro leagues are NOT top leagues as long as the NHL exists.
Also, you said football leagues lose their international players for World Cup and Euro qualifying. It turns out that they only lose African players for one tournament. That is not the same as losing a hundred or so of your very top players as I said.
Your comparables are not comparable.
If you are counting by money, not comparable. But top leagues in their regions yes, businesses just like NHL, yes.
And you're missing the point on World cup, they actually commit to a break during it world wide so there is no need to run secondary talent during that time. If NHL stayed true to their word, there would be no need for this discussion. But because NHL used covid as an excuse to avoid olympics, then came up with the solution of taxi squads, they could use that same solution to allow olympics to happen.
All you are saying is, they are too precious to do the bare minimum that other leagues and other, much larger sports manage to do.
You are speaking from the point of view of an NHL executive. I am not, I am a hockey fan and that rich executives need for another dollar does not in any shape or form matter to me. He is already rich, and the workers he has used to get rich want some time off, millions of fans worldwide want to see them. Why would I defend his greedy perspective when it's clearly only beneficial short term to him, not to the players who want to go and not for the world wide hockey audience? Players want to represent countries, people want to see it, some company executive can step aside and wait a bit. They don't own the players and they have to work with the players because the players are the product.
I don't understand siding with them. But maybe you can explain because you are someone who feels the need to mention more than once that they make a lot of money.
Also, African nations cup has way more than a 100 players from top euro leagues.