Ribeiro’s fresh start
DALLAS – Mike Ribeiro fulfilled only part of his dream playing for the hometown Montreal Canadiens. Ribeiro put on that storied sweater for parts of six seasons, but things didn’t turn out exactly as he envisioned.
Since being traded to Dallas at the start of last season, far from the often overbearing hockey spotlight in Canada, the 28-year-old Ribeiro has become the new Mike.
As a hometown player in Montreal, overwhelming expectations and pressures followed him on and off the ice. And he didn’t help produce a Stanley Cup.
“You don’t realize when you’re there that much, there’s a lot of pressure. And, if you’re from there, even more pressure,” Ribeiro said. “At some point, you need to focus on your career, and I think it was a good move now that I’m here.”
Ribeiro is now an All-Star averaging more than a point a game (67 points in 64 games) for Pacific Division-leading Dallas. That is nearly double his scoring pace in Montreal (0.55 points), and more than the team-high 59 points he had in his Stars debut last season.
“We have great fan support here, but it’s not an everyday thing where the paparazzi is following you like they may in Montreal,” said Stars captain Brenden Morrow, one of Ribeiro’s wingers on the top line. “In Canada, they take their hockey like a religion.”
With his offensive prowess and a $25 million, five-year contract extension through the 2012-13 season, Ribeiro is starting to emerge as the new face of the Stars franchise. That is a role held almost solely by Mike Modano, the highest-scoring U.S.-born player and only player left who moved with the team from Minnesota 15 years ago.
“When I played with him, I knew he could definitely dominate the game at times and now he’s figured it out,” said Montreal right wing Michael Ryder. “I guess there’s not as much pressure on him and he’s just playing and having fun.”
And he’s finally flourishing into the kind of player the Canadiens envisioned when they drafted him 45th overall in 1998.
Ribeiro made his NHL debut with one goal in 19 games in 1999-00, and appeared in only two games in 2000-01. That was during the same three-year stretch when he scored 341 points (125 goals, 216 assists) in 159 games in the Candian Hockey League’s Quebec Major Junior League.
His best season for the Canadiens was 2003-04, when he had 65 points (20 goals, 45 assists) while getting extended playing time because captain Saku Koivu missed 79 games because of health reasons. Ribeiro slipped to 51 points (16 goals) after the yearlong NHL lockout, then got traded the weekend before the 2006-07 opener.
Stars coach Dave Tippett attributes Ribeiro’s success in Dallas to his work ethic, something that came into question at times in Montreal.
“He’s always had the skill level. You add the surroundings, he’s comfortable here and putting the energy on the ice,” Tippett said. “You get out of that atmosphere that maybe there is no outside pressure, you take that extra energy and put it into the game.”