Ideally, you want a balance. It's not about heavy hockey - it's that you can't get away from the 50/50 puck situation. Of course, putting together a roster that can understand and execute the balance between a flowing skill game and an un-sexy board battling game is a tough task. (Maybe certain Red Wings teams had a version of this? Maybe Tampa or Washington?) But that's why the coach and his system matters to such a degree. When you don't have the ideal roster yet, you can create a degree of certainty with good habits and consistent structure. For such a habits-centric coach, the team looks downright unprofessional right now and I have a hard time attributing it to just the roster (which for sure needs some improvement).
What are the things I like about the team since Hynes took over? Speed and skill are there to be used. But there is a reason "letting the game come to you" is such a cliche. What you want to see from any teacher is an increased understanding of the game itself - this is how high risk plays become certainties instead of a coin flip that you accept is part of a more "creative" and "skill-oriented " system.
Everything about what Hynes has them doing is about manufacturing things that just aren't there. Passes, shots, breakouts - these seemingly all require absurd efforts within his system.
A side-rant because it's late and I'm high: the truth is the most creative and effective players in the recent history of the game - Thornton, Datsyuk, Crosby, Kane - simply take what's there (to use another cliche). They don't make something happen, they just observe what's a possibility better than others. That's the essence of their talent and it's the essence of the game.
