I didn't much care for the games this year. I only watched the Canada games, so I can't comment on how the others were to watch, but I found there was a ton of trapping. It really wasn't very exciting. You would think that a trapping game would play into the hands of the teams that have the most NHLer's but that wasn't the case. Too often Canada couldn't figure out how to penetrate the zone and keep pressure on.
I would love to see the NHL move to Olympic size surfaces, however. There may have been trapping, but there would have been much more on a smaller sheet of ice. On the big ice you have to be able to skate to trap effectively.
As far as it being better than the NHL, keep in mind these are the best players in the world playing on a handful of teams. In the NHL, you get to watch AO with nobody and Sid with pretty much nobody and Sundin with nobody, etc. Here they have more players to complement their abilities. It's great to watch and it really brings out national pride, but I prefer the style of play the NHL has bee utilizing this year over the way the Olympic games were played this year.
Of course I'd also like to see NHL rules when it comes to fighting and such, so that running a goalie is not as easy.