Mike Ribeiro is having a great year with the Dallas Stars. Yes, Gainey dropped the puck on this one (thanks in large part to the Canadiens poor pro scouting department headed by A/GM Pierre Gauthier) but to suggest that Ribeiro would have had the same results or impact with the Canadiens is wishful thinking.Montreal had too many distractions for the hometown boy combined with his lack of respect for the team leadership and poor work ethic when he was here. Mike Ribeiro has less distractions in Dallas and is playing with a team captain/hard working player like Brenden Morrow which has helped raise his work ethic on the ice.

I watched his two goal performance against Calgary and was thoroughly impressed with his game. Ribeiro also looks like he has taken his off-ice training more seriously as he seems stronger along the boards and isn’t afraid to go into traffic or hard to the net (something Mr. Morrow has always done!!!). He seems faster and appeared to have worked on his skating, something that was always criticized about in Montreal.

It would appear Mike Ribeiro is finally reaching his full potential, unfortunately he isn’t doing it in a Canadiens uniform………