just a quick question........would it be an OK idea in a dash to try and hold the right side off? (the wheel that broke off was on the right?). I would assume (knowing nothing about a dash or how it would handle this type of landing) that by touching down on the left mains and killing some airspeed would have made a safer landing. I'm not saying this was unsafe, but I'm saying the problem was not the strut but the tire so why put in on the ground until as slow as possible. You would not be risking a collapse because the strut is in good working order. What that idea is an idea if it falls off you have a lot less distance to roll on it until the plane stops.
No, slower does not equal safer. More on that in a second.
I checked our QRH (CRJ) and it does not give guidance on single tire failure. It only provides information about: 1) One main landing gear up/unsafe; 2) nose landing gear up/unsafe; 3) both main landing gear up/unsafe; 4) all landing gear up/unsafe.
Back to your recommendation. A slower airspeed at touchdown would most likely produce a higher vertical rate. In the QRH for landing gear malfunctions, it says to touchdown with minimum vertical speed and a forward speed not less than stick shaker speed. Basically, it is saying to fly gently down, but not too slow.
Holding a little weight off of the strut is an option, but not necessarily important. These transport category aircraft are built with this failure in mind (one of the reasons of having 2 wheels on each strut). If it were a smaller aircraft with only 1 wheel per strut, then by all means, hold it off as long as possible.
Your best bet is to make a normal landing, as smoothely as possible, with as little crosswind as possible, and try not to put too much stress on the remaining parts.