That is why it seems strange to me that they took pains to list, in decreasing order of importance, exactly what other competitions are to be weighed. In case of injury to a "dominant skater" they already have that covered.
In 2005-06 Michelle Kwan did not skate in any events at all. (Except the Marshall's phone-in-the-vote special in December, where she was so crippled up with her hip injury that she could hardly walk, much less skate. She won anyway. ) her only official credential for being considered for the Olympic team was her fourth place finish at 2005 Worlds.
The USFSA did not need any prioritized lists. They just pulled out the Kwan rule -- Michelle goes where she wants, the rest of y'all stay home. :yes:
But they might have been a bit less quick to give her that spot if the order of finish at Nationals had been, say,
1. Meissner or Hughes
2. Czisny
3. Cohen
Most of the time dilemma situations won't arise -- the obvious team will match the top finishers at Nationals, or the Nationals results with a strong veteran who withdrew replacing a much-less-experienced third-place finisher will be no worse than any other possible team they could put together. But when dilemmas do occur, it's good to have written guidelines rather than just gut feelings to rely on.