My guy Nick Brain plays for the Colorado Raptors. We're currently part of the big 8 team scrap for playoff spots right now, sitting in 6th place 2 points clear of a playoff spot. Theres real upside to this team, but theres also some stuff we need to work on going forward........

-The Good: Defensively the team is sound (although I worry that'll be affected as we got rid of a veteran inactive for a rookie active). We give up 24.47 shots per game, meaning we don't overwork rookie goaltender Yuri Ushakov too hard. Yuri's responded well to that with a nice .914 save percentage and a 2.14 GAA (second in the league in that department). The team's given up 36 goals, third lowest in the league.

-We set a physical tone in each game, leading the league in hits with 311. Luckily this doesn't translate to frequent time in the penalty box as we average 8.93 penalty minutes per game, which is close to league average.

-The Bad: Our special teams ranges from mediocre to atrocious. The atrocious is the Powerplay unit, which only converts 6.83% of the time. For a team with 5 veteran forwards, some of whom are amongst the leading scorers, thats simply unacceptable. Something's gotta change there. Perhaps putting Lunga Gumba on the point could help, hes got an SHL level slapshot that hasn't seen much action on the team so far, although his other skills could be called into question.

-The PK is below league average at 77.42%. Again, not sure what the deal is there, as the team's no doubt a top defensive unit at even strength.

-The Raptors generate 24.47 shots per game, tied for second worst in the league. This may be less of an issue, however, as we're tied with the Montreal Militia and they lead the league. I'd bet our shooting percentage is amongst the highest in the league but that stat doesn't seem to be tracked?

-The Raptors team faceoff percentage is 46.33%. The finger's gotta be pointed squarely at Daniel Smeb in that regard. Hes having a decent season on the 3rd line otherwise, but 37.2% at the faceoff circle isn't going to get it done.

Overall impression I'm getting from the team is they're a physical, solid defensive unit, with a good plan at even strength that generates and prevents quality shots, although the system falls apart with a man off for either side.