If you employ Kunitz, prime Horny, prime Bonino and hell even Jake and Sid from 5 years ago - hell yes that is the type of system and offensive zone philosophy you SHOULD be employing. Those guys all had an edge to their game and they went towards the net often and with bad intentions.
The problem now is our 2 best players are 36 and don't/should not be doing that kind of dirty work. Sid and Geno should not be the puck possessors and carriers into the OZ. They should play a major supporting role in creating space and passing lanes with their skill.
But outside of Rakell and Zucker we've got a bunch 3rd wheels. Sid and Geno still carry the bulk of the water and their backs are eventually gonna break. I will surely jinx it, but this season is an anomaly with both of them being relatively healthy. That's likely not going to repeat next year. Man can you even imagine these 2 being out? We're talking Cbus BJ level bad here...that's not hyperbole
I think a part of the problem with our roster and why we seem to do well in xGF but not actual goals for, is the type of players we have.
To score in this league you generally need to be one of two things:
1-Great shot who can pick the corners even when the goalie is squared up/unscreened
2-Go to the net, establish presence and bang in rebounds/deflect shots/screen the goalie
Too much of our roster doesn't fall into either category. We don't really consistently have guys in front of the net doing a good job of taking away the goalie's vision and causing havoc for the opposition defenders, and we also don't have guys other than Sid, Geno and Jake who can pick corners to beat an unscreened goalie.
Too many wack-a-mole types who generate offense through quantity rather than quality shots and who take unscreened shots because we don't have guys going to the net and planting themselves there every chance they get.
IMO, Rust is the poster boy for what's wrong with our team. He refuses to go to the net and stay there, instead opting to kind of float around the perimeter waiting for someone to get him the puck, and when he gets the puck he doesn't have the accuracy or velocity to blow shots past goalies so he'll spend those HDCF on muffins at the goalie's chest.