more people should be using VS at low altitudes when approaching cleared levels in congested airspace, rather than relying on ALT* to do the work.
In the 717, fiddling with the V/S near an assigned altitude is dangerous, as you may "bump" off the flare/capture and fly straight thru the altitude. Better to let the jet do the flare in speed hold mode, climbing or descending. That said, I have seen quite a times the Admiral's situation, where in speed hold, the nose drops alarmingly near the ground. If not on the VNAV path with speed hold, V/S is better.
Then again, the mighty Avro RJ would not pass thru the assigned altitude regardless of what you did on the MCP. That I liked.
Depends on the system you have...