While testing, my experience with systemd was decidedly mixed. On the desktop, I hardly notice it.
Debian 8 on the server is a different story, though.
In my case, enough has gone wrong that I suggest you don't jump in immediately with both feet.
Overall, the article's tone is extraordinarily generous towards debian itself. The author clearly has a background in system administration, and is reviewing a distribution that is used primarily by sysadmins[1]. He dedicates three terse paragraphs to the actual meat (debian 8 on the server), and spends the rest of the article waxing about what's new, and the desktop experience.
I wouldn't go so far as to call this a fluff piece, but they're definitely attempting to cast debian in the best light possible with this article.
1. (unless you can point me to a sizeable debian desktop population - ubuntu doesn't count anymore post-snappy, but I'd love to be proven wrong on LMDE's numbers.)