Is Nas responsible for the system? Or does he follow Hynes's game plan?
I find the disconnect between a good PK and awful 5v5 team defense a very interesting topic.
That's a good question. I always presumed Nas implemented the system. I'm not sure why a head coach would not delegate the D to the D coach.
On the other hand, the forwards really seem to have problems contributing to the D, so if it's a system wide issue and not just the defensemen, it may be a Hynes issue.
As I said, what I see happening is that the D will chase their assignment high, which causes two problems for me. 1. They're not fast enough to cover the opposing forwards, so the forwards can blow by them and get netfront before the D can recover. 2. Our forwards are not always aware enough to cover for the casing D. I've seen so many times our F out of position and suddenly realize it and run down low. It's usually in time, but not always.
The other problem I see is that the forwards seem to be cheating and flying the coup. That results in chaos if the puck doesn't make it out of the zone. It's also a problem in that when the D gets the puck they have to make long stretch passes, getting intercepted more often than not. If there's 2 forecheckers, it becomes really hard for us to do that.
The D pinching is also a problem, but I consider that more an issue with the players than the coaches. Sure they're encouraged to pinch by the coaches, but its up to the players to make the reads and decide when it's safe and when it's not.
I have to say one problem that really niggled at me last couple years was fixed. I used to complain that when one of our D men got the puck, the other would skate towards him. I guess he was trying to be "supportive", but what he was really doing was drawing the opponent assigned to cover him towards the puck carrier, often causing 2 defenders on the puck. We've done a lot less of that this year.
Anyway, whatever system we're playing right now may work for some other teams, but we just don't have the right type of players to implement it. Stubbornly clinging to it instead of adapting is a huge issue.