Recently, on November 10th and the 7th game day of the SMJHL regular season the Colorado Raptors got blown out 6 - 0 against the Detroit Falcons. While, it comes as no suprise that the juggernaut Falcons were able to defeat Colorado, the outright domination was. This game really highlights the lack of defensive structure present in Colorado's team. 
Colorado can put the puck in the net well, being top 3 in the league in goals for, the defensive woes are really apparent that even with a top 3 offence the Raptors still have a -4 goal differential. This can be rationalized when you look at the ratings and stats of their forwards compared to their defensemen. 3 Colorado defensemen are in the bottom 4 in total TPE applied on the team, and 5 defensemen are in the bottom 7 of total TPE applied. The imbalance in between forward and defensemen skill and defensive ability is a trending issue for Colorado, as in Season 67 of the SMJHL they finished bottom 5 in goals against, and top 3 in goals for.
This problem stems from Season 66 of the SMJHL. Colorado was a good defensive team that year, that finished top 3 in goals against in a very successful season with an overall finish of 2nd in the league standings. The issue is that 3 of 6 of the teams starting defensemen left the team, which left the defensive core in disarray, from which Colorado hasn't recovered since. And while remaining defensemen from Season 66 Chuchichäschtli Zopf and Isaac Forty-One have developed into solid defensemen for the club, defensive depth has turned into an issue. 
Colorado was able to recognize this issue and recruit 4 new defensemen for Season 67, however none of these new recruits have turned into much. Matt Ox and Pork Tenderloin have left the team for Season 68, and while Jason Jr. was able to stay around for the next seasonm he hasn't been able to make big steps throughout his career so far. Currently, the only promising prospect to come out of the group from Season 67 is Johan Norgaard.
However, although the situation seems bleek, there is hope. Some promising defensemen prospects have joined the team for the new season, with the names of Alphonso Davies and Tommy Tuffnuts, and some improvements from existing players expected. And it's important to remember the goal here, because of Colorado's high powered offense, all the defense needs to be is average for Colorado to be a threat to any team in the playoffs. The top 6 of the Raptors can only be described as one of the best in the SMJHL. With elite forwards like Erik Bergmark, Carl Ray Jetson, Casper Neilsson and Adrian O'Rugg can carry an average defense to a deep playoff run. With all that, the situation for Colorado is not good, but not hopeless.
Thanks for reading!

The Great Khali - #50 - RD
THE PUNJABI PLAYBOY RISES AGAIN

@okestboomer APPROVED! +5 TPE