TSN: Serious team?

Do you agree with Hayes?

  • Agree, they are not a serious team

    Votes: 98 94.2%
  • Disagree, they are a serious team

    Votes: 6 5.8%

  • Total voters
    104

Evilhomer

Registered User
Oct 10, 2019
3,593
3,325
I say it is an unbelievably immature and immeasurable comment to make. How exactly does one define and judge "seriousness", and how is a random sports reporter who has never played at a comparable level believe himself qualified to make that determination? For the youngsters out there, it's a dumb hot take by a fanboy who is frustrated after seeing two losses. Are the Oilers more "serious" after winning a couple of games in a row? Is Boston less serious after losing three in a row? It's a comment by and for people with limited attention spans who can't see past what happened two days ago. This team seemed pretty serious when it beat Tampa last season, but I guess by this definition they were less serious when they lost to Florida. Makes perfect sense.
 

Larcos_Unal

Excuses are for losers
Jul 6, 2007
5,436
6,079
Toronto
I think Hayes is talking about this team's ability to play down to the competition, inability to hold leads, inability to put away teams below them in the standings. That's what separates serious contenders from pretenders.

If that's the criteria, no, they're not a serious team.
 

thewave

Registered User
Jun 17, 2011
40,396
10,288
Need two top 4 dmen for me to take them seriously.

Add in a top 7 tender in the league.


We are certainly not a serious threat to win the cup right now.

I think Hayes is talking about this team's ability to play down to the competition, inability to hold leads, inability to put away teams below them in the standings. That's what separates serious contenders from pretenders.

If that's the criteria, no, they're not a serious team.

They aren't a contender.

I say it is an unbelievably immature and immeasurable comment to make. How exactly does one define and judge "seriousness", and how is a random sports reporter who has never played at a comparable level believe himself qualified to make that determination? For the youngsters out there, it's a dumb hot take by a fanboy who is frustrated after seeing two losses. Are the Oilers more "serious" after winning a couple of games in a row? Is Boston less serious after losing three in a row? It's a comment by and for people with limited attention spans who can't see past what happened two days ago. This team seemed pretty serious when it beat Tampa last season, but I guess by this definition they were less serious when they lost to Florida. Makes perfect sense.

Only read the first 10 words. It's a legit criticism and accurate. They are not a contender.,
 
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Buds17

Registered User
Nov 29, 2015
8,272
3,392
The poor reputation they've developed while competing against the league's lesser lights isn't exactly a newfound thing.
 
Last edited:

Gary Nylund

Registered User
Oct 10, 2013
30,040
22,441
I say it is an unbelievably immature and immeasurable comment to make. How exactly does one define and judge "seriousness", and how is a random sports reporter who has never played at a comparable level believe himself qualified to make that determination? For the youngsters out there, it's a dumb hot take by a fanboy who is frustrated after seeing two losses. Are the Oilers more "serious" after winning a couple of games in a row? Is Boston less serious after losing three in a row? It's a comment by and for people with limited attention spans who can't see past what happened two days ago. This team seemed pretty serious when it beat Tampa last season, but I guess by this definition they were less serious when they lost to Florida. Makes perfect sense.
I'm pretty sure it was O'Dog who said it first, and he is anything but a "random sports reporter".

How does one define it - I think it's pretty obvious what he meant, and I think it's pretty obvious that he's 100% correct.

Actually, maybe it's not that obvious since you don't seem to get it but I'll try to help - it's not a matter of winning or losing, it's the way they're playing. Does that help?
 

Mess

Global Moderator
Feb 27, 2002
86,976
12,001
Leafs Home Board
I've said it before and I'll say it again,

The Leafs are built for entertainment purposes first & foremost as priority #1 based on their flawed Salary Cap spending strategy.

"Sports is an entertainment business" to extract fans earned money, and by having high priced stars it puts butts in seats and $$ in the pockets of MLSE, whike validating the highest ticket prices in the NHL and it raises market franchise value in the big pitcure when profitabiliy trumps winability.

"Sports is also a results oriented business", however winning in the playoffs and bringing home championships is not the way this team is assembled for, as history season after season has shown and proven. Leafs winning 1 single playoff round in the last 19 years among the worst records in the NHL, Recent expansion teams have had more playoff success than Toronto.

"We Can and We Will" a slogan we have heard used is more about paying and keeping Matthews, Marner, Nylander and Tavares together under a Salary Cap to entertain fans with star players in the line-up. Its not a mission statement that they plan to do whatever it takes to makes this a Championship team.. Lining up to Pay Matthews, Marner and Nylander even more money doesn't make your team better, its just more proof of spending harder not smarter.

When you lose to vast underdogs CBJ, Montreal and Florida in the playoffs and simply shuffle the chairs on the Titanic instead of making serious moves to address team weaknesses nor a very flawed cap management strategy investing 1/2 cap space in just 4 forwards then bringing home a championship is not priority #1.
 

Evilhomer

Registered User
Oct 10, 2019
3,593
3,325
Only read the first 10 words. It's a legit criticism and accurate. They are not a contender.,
Arguing that they aren't a contender is one thing, and at least people can have a legitimate debate on that point. Saying they aren't "serious" is not really analysis. It's no different than when people say that a professional athlete doesn't "care". If the Leafs win all of their games this week, will it mean that they are now more serious?

Actually, maybe it's not that obvious since you don't seem to get it but I'll try to help - it's not a matter of winning or losing, it's the way they're playing. Does that help?
Were they more serious when they beat Tampa in the first round?
 

A1LeafNation

Obsession beats talent everytime!!
Oct 17, 2010
27,438
17,404
Add in a top 7 tender in the league.


We are certainly not a serious threat to win the cup right now.



They aren't a contender.



Only read the first 10 words. It's a legit criticism and accurate. They are not a contender.,
Aden Hill won a cup.

Fix the flipping defence.
 
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Hugh Mongusbig

Registered User
Mar 7, 2012
953
455
19 games into the season, or roughly 25% of the way in.... TML have 65GF, 65GA (give or take)
This team has given up just as many goals as it has scored. That's not a serious team.

Good, serious teams that play defense have positive goal differential.
so far, with this team, it's a coin flip on a nightly basis whether they outscore the opponent by 4 or get outscored by 4. That's doesn't seem serious to me.

This team only has 5 regulation wins. That's the same as the sharks, and less than the oilers and arizona. if it wasn't for 3 clutch OT goals, they would be even further down the standings than they are now. That's doesn't seem serious to me.
 

horner

Registered User
May 22, 2007
7,985
4,495
Mathews and marner and the defense are very careless with the puck .
Mathew and marner play the same in the playoffs.
Until we fix those issues we aren't a cup contender
 
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thewave

Registered User
Jun 17, 2011
40,396
10,288
Arguing that they aren't a contender is one thing, and at least people can have a legitimate debate on that point. Saying they aren't "serious" is not really analysis. It's no different than when people say that a professional athlete doesn't "care". If the Leafs win all of their games this week, will it mean that they are now more serious?


Were they more serious when they beat Tampa in the first round?

I think the spirit of the comment was meant to mean that they aren't a serious contender. That's the way I take it. If someone were acting like a clown I would take it the other way.
 

Clark4Ever

What we do in hockey echoes in eternity...
Oct 10, 2010
11,645
8,288
T.O.
Right now we are obviously not playing like a serious contender. I am confident this group can move up the standings but without changes to the blueline and the bottom six, we are not likely to be a serious threat in the playoffs.

We also need both our goaltenders to take their game to the next level.
 

Trapper

Registered User
Nov 21, 2013
23,749
11,019
I'm pretty sure it was O'Dog who said it first, and he is anything but a "random sports reporter".

How does one define it - I think it's pretty obvious what he meant, and I think it's pretty obvious that he's 100% correct.

Actually, maybe it's not that obvious since you don't seem to get it but I'll try to help - it's not a matter of winning or losing, it's the way they're playing. Does that help?
Our core lacks any type of a Patrice Bergeron gene. There is a reason Jonathan Toews was Captain serious.
How many of our core do you see finishing 4 rounds with a fractured rib, broken finger, twisted knee? With the exception of Morgan Rielly. I can picture him taped together to win a Cup.
They need to wake up and get it. Instead it’s Peter Pan syndrome.
 

Stephen

Moderator
Feb 28, 2002
78,983
53,896
Over the past number of years the Leafs have been trying to become a more serious team. All business, veteran contender than can overwhelm you with skill but handle themselves any way. But it feels like they are regressing to a more immature state: heroic last minute efforts, party wins, no shows, inconsistent effort and plenty of built in circumstances not to put best foot forward.
 

Gary Nylund

Registered User
Oct 10, 2013
30,040
22,441
Were they more serious when they beat Tampa in the first round?
Probably a bit more serious overall, hard to say in absolute terms as "serious" is a relative term. I think Schenn was serious and Rielly was serious, not sure about the other high priced bellhops.

Our core lacks any type of a Patrice Bergeron gene. There is a reason Jonathan Toews was Captain serious.
How many of our core do you see finishing 4 rounds with a fractured rib, broken finger, twisted knee? With the exception of Morgan Rielly. I can picture him taped together to win a Cup.
They need to wake up and get it. Instead it’s Peter Pan syndrome.
On this team, Rielly is indeed like a man among boys.
 

mistaclick

Registered User
Feb 2, 2022
292
430
They don’t look like they are playing serious most nights. And I definitely don’t take this team seriously.

Our blue line is a joke. Maybe if we had a bonafide top pairing dman instead of a Marner or Tavares it would be a different story. But that won’t happen and we’ve drafted like one dman the last 3 drafts. We really need to hit on a dman pick this year. Need someone like a Kaberle to come up out of nowhere and become a stud for us, we won’t have early picks.
 
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