This is an article I wrote a few years ago that was published in the National Strength and Conditioning Associations Performance Training Journal. The target audience for that issue was football coaches and athletes. It is applicable to all ground-based sports, so is relevant for hockey, basketball, soccer, volleyball, figure skating, baseball...
There is a bunch of research and information on how training for strength, power, and speed improve agility. This is because those correlations are relatively simple to study. On the contrary, the effects of technique must be deduced: A novel technique will inevitably be slower than a well-practised one, so you can't compare A to B, unless both techniques are well refined skills of the same athlete. Logical, deductive reasoning, based on a strong knowledge of biomechanics, functional anatomy, physics, sport rules, position skills/assignments is necessary to determine the best techniques to be taught.
I believe that at least two of these agility techniques should be taught and practised early in the off season. (Typically, they could be done between sets since they're low intensity, low volume work focused on co-ordination.) That way when power, speed, and reactive agility training is introduced, the athlete has a repertoire of refined techniques and should automatically select the ideal one based on the situational demands of the training (i.e. specific drill/exercise, the surface, direction, which foot is in contact...). Only if they slip, or appear inefficient does the coach need to intervene with a technical correction.
Enough explanation. Here it is: Improving Agility Techniques
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