Who exactly did the Leafs have outside of Rielly and Gardiner the past couple years? It's not like Rielly played on a much better defensive team. He's had a rotating cast of defensive pairings as well.
Risto is just not cut out to play the role he's given. When Buffalo gets a better D than Risto who can move him down the lineup, they will get better and suddenly the Sabres fans won't blame coaching for everything that is wrong with the team.
They wanted Housley so bad in the offseason, now they think he's terrible. The lineup is the problem, not the coaching.
Do you know who the second worst CA/60 is? Bozak. Bozak was given #1C minutes for nearly 5 years before Babcock came out of necessity. He still gets caved in on ES occasionally despite easy minutes but the Leafs are much better because we now have Matthews and Kadri above him.
Buffalo needs Dahlin bad. I'd tank this season, trade whatever it takes outside of Eichel to get Dahlin if they don't win the lottery.
Sabres fans think: Risto is better than Rielly, Eichel is better than Matthews, ROR is better than Kadri, Reinhart is better than Marner/Nylander, Lehner is better than Andersen. Yet their team sucks.
I guess Babcock is just a wizard making the inferior Leafs look a lot better than the Sabres.