I have had NHL.TV the last three years and have been pretty disappointed. Besides the blackouts, there are a lot of technical issues. I have very fast internet and the feed is still choppy or delayed sometimes. Nothing worse than looking forward to a game all week and coming home to watch a game on NHL.TV and it is not working. Games are also blackedout anytime they are on NHL channel, NBC, NBCsports. Not sure if there is a great alternative, I may bite the bullet and buy it again this year.
Concerning the VPN, I have read that some can get around the regional restrictions and some cannot. I am not really helpful with the VPN stuff.