Fascia stretching does make a difference and my friend found out the hard way when he broke the tib/fib in both his lower legs in a car accident in 2001. The swelling of his lower legs as a result of the fractures stretched his fascia to the max. And when his tib/fib healed fully many months later, he had significantly bigger calf muscles once he started working out again. So yeah, I would definitely agree that the fascia is limiting overall muscular growth.
This is jumping to conclusions. Your friend had compartment syndrome, usually the muscle quality is less afterwards. Did he have bigger calves in lean condition? Was he stronger? I doubt it.
