Wow, this is perhaps the best strategic analysis I've ever seen for the sport of hockey. Thank you very much for linking this.
I too was frustrated as to how difficult it always seemed to generate rushes last year, and how every pass from the D seemed to be a bomb to guys standing on the boards looking to chip it in. I'm definitely no hockey strategy expert, but it just seemed weak to turn our possessions into 50/50 board battles down low. And, it seemed to bring about the fun side effect of our guys getting crunched into the end boards as they raced in to try to tie up the puck.
All that said, I have no clue what sort of coach/system we SHOULD run, but I honestly feel like even though we lost a lot this year, we seemed capable of better stretches of good play and it just felt better than the year before.
I feel a strong parallel to the Bills when the hired Rex - we finally seemed to have a roster with the talent to compete, but we know how that turned out. How I wish we end up with something that can get us over the hump.