Despite revamping their defense on the Johnny Damon Jersey fly, and bringing in a new coaching staff, theSabres are once again in lottery-pick territory this season. Worse still, after recording 81 and 78 points the last two seasons, theyre on pace for just 57 points this season, almost as bad as their purposeful tanking seasons in 2013-14 and 2014-15 of 52 and 54 points, respectively.That level of stepping back looks bad on everyone, from the new coaching and management staffs to the players, but its got to be especially frustrating for the organization and fan base since Jack Eichel is stealthily having a breakout season that should put him among the leagues elite players, if not for the abysmal power play the Sabres have.MORE: Looking at each season of Eichels career, his progre s at even strength is quite linear. Eichel scored at a solid rate and did some nice things with the puck in transition as a rookie, but the lack of depth in the Sabres lineup and some defensive deficiencies in his game had his impact below team Don Mattingly Jersey average. Thats not surprising for a teenager, and he scraped himself up to being a positive presence last season at 20 years old, but this season hes been incredible.A breakout from Eichel couldnt come at a better time, considering he just signed a ma sive extension that kicks in next season, paying him$10 millionper season, a cap hit that will bring an extra level of criticism to his play on the ice. Had Eichel continued to put up nice personal numbers but not drive play for his teammates, it could get ugly fast.MORE:Whats unfortunate, though, is that despite this breakout Aaron Hicks Jersey at even strength, he'salmost at the same level of individual production as last season, and the Sabres are no better.The problem thereis all on the power play. Last season, Buffalo had one of the leagues most dangerous power plays despite being a lower-tier team, and Eichel ripped home 10goals and 24 points with the man advantage. This season, hes yet to score on the power play and has just threepower play points.The change in Eichelsnumbers are likely largely due to some poor shooting luck. But it cant be ignored that first-year Sabrescoach Phil Housley ran the Predators power play last season, and it was driven almost entirely through that teams defensemen.The Predators happened to have four excellent power play defensemen in Roman Josi, P.K. Subban, Ryan Ellis, and Mattias Ekholm, and still that system was extremely underwhelming for the talent involved, executing at the 16th-best rate in the NHL.MORE:The Sabres, meanwhile, dont have anywhere close to the Predators Paul O'Neill Jersey level of quality at defense, with the only highly regarded offensive talent being Rasmus Ristolainen, and hes been as poor on the power play as Eichel has.Fixing the Sabres power play wont immediately make them a contender, but it would likely put them exactly where theyve been the last two seasons, if not a little bit better. The same i sues that have plagued the team since theyve begun to try to dig themselves out of permanent tank mode still remain:they dont have any high quality top-four defencemen. Its the same problem the Oilers faced before signing Andrej Sekera and the development of Oscar Klefbom.Ristolainen may be that one day. The 23-year-old plays tough minutes now, but his on-ice results the last few seasons arent there yet.Its easy to say that this Sabres team Yogi Berra Jersey is better than their position in the standings, but until they get at least one seriously strong even strength defenseman to help out Ristolainen, are they really? Wasting Eichels prime hoping to find one internally would be a real shame. Related Articles NHL Winter Cla sic 2018: How to watch, live stream Sabres vs. Rangers outdoor game