Bob Gainey was at the helm of the Montreal Canadiens for over six years as their GM. Over that time, he made some good and bad trades. There’s absolutely no doubt about which of the two categories today’s one belongs in.
The Montreal market is hockey-mad and whichever move the GM makes, everyone in town dissects it. Maybe not everyone, but the fans and media alike are always ready to discuss hockey and a trade has always been one of their favorite discussion topics.
On top of hockey, Montreal fans (or at least a large part of them) love their local players. There’s not a draft that goes by without questions being asked about the low number of QMJHL players the team picked. When the Canadiens do select a Quebecer though he better perform and he better do it fast.
The 1998 Draft
With their second-round pick at the 1998 draft, the Canadiens selected a local kid who had set the QJMHL on fire in his two first season recording 125 points (40 goals and 85 assists) in his rookie year and showing there was no such thing as a sophomore jinx in his second season with 167 points (67 goals and 100 assists). In fact, he had been dominating at every level, putting up ridiculous totals in the Midget AAA league and making Quebecers wonder if he would become a superstar.
He was not that big in stature though at five-foot-eleven and he played even smaller. Back then, physicality was almost a prerequisite to even be considered to play in the NHL. With the likes of Scott Stevens and Chris Pronger running loose on the leagues’ rinks, one had to know how to stand up to them.
Still, the Canadiens decided to draft Mike Ribeiro with their second-round pick, the 45th-overall selection. The hope was that his ability to score and dish out the puck would translate well to the highest level and it would work out…eventually.
Six Seasons in Montreal
The hometown boy struggled at first and couldn’t find his footing in the big league which explains why he only played 21 games in his first two seasons combined. After a 66-point season in the AHL with the Quebec Citadelles, fans thought that he might just have found his groove and were disappointed when he could only muster 18 points in 43 games in the NHL. As a result, he played 23 more games in the AHL, producing at a point-per-game pace.
The following year, he still couldn’t make an impact in the NHL, notching 17 points in 52 games. Slowly but surely, the pressure was starting to build up and patience was running out. He did have a bit of a breakthrough in the 2003-2004 season picking up 65 points in 81 games and the Canadiens’ brass wondered if Ribeiro had finally arrived, but his production went back down to 51 points in 79 games in 2003-2004 and Gainey decided to call time on the Ribeiro in Montreal experiment.
The performance on the ice wasn’t the only issue though. On Feb 18, 2004 RDS reported that there was an altercation between captain Saku Koivu and Ribeiro at practice. The Habs had lost four games in a row and even though the players and coaching staff tried to play things down, there had been issues between the two players before.
A couple of years ago, Ribeiro was invited on Tony Marinaro’s Sick Podcast and he spoke about Koivu in rather unkind terms, going as far as saying he was a bad captain. A gutsy claim considering the Finn captained the Canadiens for nine seasons, second only to the late great Jean Beliveau who wore the C for 10 seasons.
The Trade
Before the start of the 2006-2007 season, Gainey decided to move his problem child to the Dallas Stars alongside the Canadiens’ sixth-round pick at the 2008 draft. In return, he obtained blueliner Jaane Niinimaa and the Stars fifth-round pick in 2007.
With such late picks, those were definitely not the deal breakers nor would they turn out to be once selected. The Canadiens inherited Andrew Conboy who would never play a single games in the NHL while Dallas picked Matthew Tassone who would never make it either.
The Aftermath
Ribeiro spent six seasons in Dallas and never got less than 53 points in a season. His best season was an 83-point effort and he surpassed the 70-point mark twice after that. He led the team in points for three seasons and was an All-Star in 2008. He really reached another level with the Stars.
Away from the pressure and expectation that plague any Quebecer playing in Montreal, Ribeiro found a new start, landing himself a five-year contract extension worth $25 M. At the end of his contract, he signed a one-year $5 M contract with the Washington Capitals after which he moved to Arizona for a $5.5 M salary.
His performances plummeted with the Coyotes though as he was fighting drugs use, and he could only get just over a million to join the Nashville Predators with whom he bounced back for a couple of seasons. In the final year of the two-year extension he had signed with the Preds, he struggled mightily and ended up in the AHL.
As for Niinimaa, he played 41 games the season following the trade and registered a grand total of three assists, finished with a -13 rating and 36 penalty minutes. Those 41 games would be the last he played in the NHL as he headed back to Europe the following season. He played another six year of pro hockey before retiring. Considering he was five years older than Ribeiro, it wasn’t all that surprising that he had less playing years left in his body, but trading a young talented player for an older one who was never an elite player rarely turns out well.
The Drug Problems
Still, Ribeiro played 1074 games in the NHL notching 793 points in the process, which is a very respectable total considering how rough a ride it was. In 2020 journalist Marie-Claude Savard interviewed Ribeiro who spoke very candidly of his problematic drug use.
Talking about his junior days he mentioned to her that he was smoking pot and going out in bars anytime he wanted. Coaches would come in and tell the other players to go home, but they’d leave him alone as he was performing well. Throughout most of his career, he wouldn’t take any other drugs during the season. He would just pick a week in the off-season where he would party and all bets were off. In Montreal, he admitted he was smoking pot every day, not before the games but still. He also used to go out quite a lot, hit the bars post games and take the next day to rest.
Things really got out of hand for him when he signed his big contract in Dallas. Once he had a guaranteed contract, he figured he didn’t need to concentrate as much. No one from the Stars ever had a word with him about the partying. After all, he was performing. It had gotten to the point where he’d convinced himself that whenever he would stay in and rest, he would have a bad game on the next day. In his mind, he had to go out.
© Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
He was in Phoenix when he first took cocaine during the season. He was suspended a few games, was told he should go to rehab and he agreed. He enrolled in the NHLPA assistance program and got clean but after that, he was tested every other day. After three years he called time on it, he had enough of being checked at 36-years-old. He pulled the plug.
In 2022, Ribeiro was charged with two counts of sexual assault for events alleged to have taken place in 2021, but he was found not guilty.
The Verdict
Gainey had no choice but to trade Ribeiro. He was underperforming and there were issues between the Montreal native and team captain Koivu. His departure was an addition by subtraction of sorts, but I struggle to see how that could have been the best offer he had on the table.
Sure, his fellow GMs might have known he wanted to trade the player, but Kent Hughes had the same issue with Jeff Petry and got an excellent return. However, Ribeiro’s work ethic and reputation might have preceded him, making the GM’s job even more complicated.
Still, the Canadiens lost that trade as they got a near non existent return and Ribeiro was able to perform away from Montreal, its spotlight and expectations. For many, the center will forever be a talented player who just couldn’t reach his own ceiling as he couldn’t focus on hockey.
Related
Canadiens: It Seemed Like a Good Idea
Canadiens: The Start of a Dark Age
Canadiens: Trade Him He Has a Bad Knee
Canadiens: Let’s Go All in for the Centennial
Canadiens: It Worked Once, Let’s Bring Him Back
Canadiens: Houle Was Shark Bait
Canadiens: Taxi for Being Too Mouthy
Canadiens: The Trade That Bit Back
