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Post by PTH on Jul 10, 2004 15:35:24 GMT -5
There is still one thing missing from Mikey's game that he had at the AHL after a few years of seasoning. That is the shift disturbing edge. In the AHL his final year he played with a spear after whistle, cocky, face wash attitude which helped him make room for himself and get into the game. Mind you he always had a behemoth (not Dagenais) on his wing to clean up the mess. Give Mikey a power forward who will protect him after he dives and sprays the goalie and can put a few pucks in and I think you will see Mikey pick it up another notch. I saw a bit of Ribs in Junior, and he really had that edge. I remember one game he was clearly the dominant player all over the place, though his team lost. He had an off-game and took a couple of bad penalties, but they were penalties of agression, not just lazy penalties. But for that kind of play to work I agree that he needs a giant winger, someone who can mix it up when really needed. Turner Stevenson is the closest thing that comes to mind (or Shayne Corson). |
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Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on Jul 10, 2004 15:42:04 GMT -5
Wasn't there an away playoff game in which he dropped his pants at centre ice to adjust his cup because the opposing fans and media had really got on the Huskies case? Or is the Summer of Love just coming back to haunt me again?
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Post by blaise on Jul 10, 2004 16:22:34 GMT -5
These anecdotes only add to the distaste I already feel for his creepy personality. Oh well, I don't have many sports heroes anyway: Rocket Richard, Ted Williams, a few others ...
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Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on Jul 10, 2004 17:24:53 GMT -5
These anecdotes only add to the distaste I already feel for his creepy personality. Oh well, I don't have many sports heroes anyway: Rocket Richard, Ted Williams, a few others ... You (and your alter-ego rhabdo) don't like Ribeiro? Quelle surprise! I never saw him as reincarnation of Richard or Williams, perhaps that's why I'm more forgiving of his errors and more jubilant when he succeeds. But hey, any player who leads the Habs in scoring and is cited by the coach as a player who is expected to shoulder a leadership role is alright in my book. Ribeiro has demonstrated to me that he is willing to work to to make himself more useful to the team. He blocked a number of shots with his "robust frame" this past season. Not the action of someone who does not care about defensive play (his +/- differential attests to that). He led the team in scoring. Something a player should routinely be taken to task for. His coach has publicly stated that he sees Ribeiro as an upcoming leader on the team (gives you shivers doesn't it?). That in itself carries more votes than any of us here on HabsRus have. His junior antics, and his reaction to Lapointe's taunting, are A-OK in my book. If one believes that the Habs of the past were uniformly saints, one is mistaken. Now as always, it takes all kinds to make a team. Ribeiro thinks of the team first - no matter what thje critical reviews are on the following day. And that is worth far more than dollars spent on someone who intermiitttently decides he would like to play. |
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Post by blaise on Jul 10, 2004 18:10:29 GMT -5
Do I HAVE to like him? Of course not. I just wish I could respect him more, and his antics don't help matters. No doubt you've noticed that I'm not the only one on this and other boards who has this reaction. The story about Koivu playing with cracked ribs in the playoffs provides too much of a contrast to make acceptance of Ribeiro easier.
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Post by HabbaDasher on Jul 10, 2004 21:50:22 GMT -5
You guys are gonna fall in love in the end. I just know it.....  |
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Post by blaise on Jul 10, 2004 23:53:31 GMT -5
You guys are gonna fall in love in the end. I just know it..... Oh, I love M. Beaux-Eaux. He's great. I just don't care for this particular line of thought. |
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Post by PTH on Jul 11, 2004 0:16:49 GMT -5
The story about Koivu playing with cracked ribs in the playoffs provides too much of a contrast to make acceptance of Ribeiro easier. Why do I get the feeling that the same story about Ribeiro wouldn't have gone over so well ? It would be quoted as an unsubstantiated rumour by homer reporters defending the home-town prettyboy underperforming hero.... |
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Post by blaise on Jul 11, 2004 13:23:36 GMT -5
Another fan Ribeiro rubs the wrong way.
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Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on Jul 11, 2004 13:27:09 GMT -5
Read again.
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Post by blaise on Jul 11, 2004 15:12:54 GMT -5
I meant it. You are great. I wish we didn't have this Ribeiro issue. Maybe I'll change my mind after next season (if there is one). |
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Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on Jul 11, 2004 15:32:32 GMT -5
I meant it. You are great. I wish we didn't have this Ribeiro issue. Maybe I'll change my mind after next season (if there is one).  Seriously. Thanks for the compliment. I enjoy our sparring matches. A well-considered difference of opinion is to be valued; else we'd all be wearing Mao jackets and be reciting chapter and verse. |
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Post by blaise on Jul 11, 2004 15:54:35 GMT -5
You're an ideal sparring partner, nimble and always ready with ammo from the archives.
If you're interested, I'll tell you what Gary Kasparov says about Paul Keres.
Now would you please tell me how to insert smileys other than the ones provided by HabsRus?
P.S. Upon rereading I still don't take PTH to be a Ribeiro fan.
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Post by PTH on Jul 11, 2004 16:43:05 GMT -5
P.S. Upon rereading I still don't take PTH to be a Ribeiro fan. Well, without being an all-out fan, he's winning me over. A year ago I figured that he probably wasn't going to amount to much, but hey, he had talent and we lacked youth and options at center, so why not. He responded by being the top scorer on the team. I've noticed that finesse players seem to take more crap in general, about their character and work ethic, simply because a finesse player sometimes will have an off-game and not manage to accomplish anythiong, because he doesn't seem to be trying as hard as a Mike Keane type - the problem is that a Mike Keane type will be trying something simple and grinding it out, while a finesse player will look like he just took the wrong option because he doesn't care and most fans (myself included) won't read the play as well as he does. Hence, finesse players (Turgeon, Ribeiro, etc.) take a lot of unwarranted criticism. The coaches refer to Ribs as a young leader on this team, when the Souray-Kovalev incident took place Ribs was the one with the mature response (we win as a team and lose as a team. No individual blame.), every year at camp he's been regarded as being in great shape. When I look at facts rather than just "intuition" (ie: he's a finesse player so he doesn't seem to be trying) on Ribs I can't see why people seem to have this innate hate for the guy. With Tucker or Barnaby I could see how he'd rub people the wrong way, but not Ribeiro. If Ribs were traded to upgrade on him I'd be fine with that, but : 1) there aren't that many better youngish offensive centers out there and 2) we have other issues to deal with. |
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Post by PTH on Jul 11, 2004 16:46:02 GMT -5
Oh, and my other comment was essentially cynical - when a good story about Koivu comes along, people are happy to nickname him Captain Courage, but a (positive) story about Ribs, read by his detractors, is a load of baloney. That's quite a double-standard.
It's like looking for WMD in Iraq before the war. Look hard enough, and you're sure to find *something* that will confirm your "suspicons".
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Post by Strummerman on Jul 11, 2004 22:10:11 GMT -5
We saw Ribeiro in the playoffs and he confirmed he had no WMD not even a pop gun ;D
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Post by franko on Jul 11, 2004 22:20:21 GMT -5
Because it looks like there won't be a season next year, I'm taking some deep breaths and am trying to practise patience. I'll start with Ribs: I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt for a crappy playoffs, but only for one year. If he stinks up the joint again or does his near-"Tiger" routine (from Slap Shot) again then patience-be-gone. And if I'm going to show patience then I'd better give Theo another chance, I guess . . . but he's on the edge Besides, there no longer is a goaltending controversy . . . |
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Post by Forum Ghost on Jul 12, 2004 7:35:51 GMT -5
Besides, there no longer is a goaltending controversy . . . *sigh* ... those were the days... |
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Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on Jul 12, 2004 8:14:49 GMT -5
*sigh* ... those were the days... Small beer, I know, but there may be a Huet and cry raised if the new guy doesn't spell relief like the old uy. |
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Post by blaise on Jul 12, 2004 11:18:16 GMT -5
Since we're off on a tangent, I'll throw in a reminder that Cristobal Huet was in goal for LA the night Mathieu Garon saved the badly outshot Habs. Huet wasn't impressive then, but we have to infer from his overall record that he's a competent goaltender, although perhaps not as good as Garon. Dave Taylor and Bob Gainey probably had similar thoughts about the matter. Otherwise, the trade for Bonk wouldn't add up even with the inclusion of a third rounder. Obviously, Gainey believes that Huet will suffice for playing up to 15-20 games as a backup to José Théodore. If the trade hadn't come off, I imagine Garon would have been in the Canadiens' goal for at least 20 games next season. There's no way of proving it, but I sense that Gainey felt a bit more comfortable about parting with Garon because he had previously signed Yann Danis.
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Post by franko on Jul 12, 2004 11:33:51 GMT -5
Since we're off on a tangent, I'll throw in a reminder that Cristobal Huet was in goal for LA the night Mathieu Garon saved the badly outshot Habs. Huet wasn't impressive then, but we have to infer from his overall record that he's a competent goaltender Garon's gone and still every thread seems to turn into something about Theo! As a former "get something while he's good" theorist, I guess I have to look at the trade that was eventually done and ask am I happy with having a competent goaltender instead of a complacent goaltender?. Perhaps -- time will tell. As much as i thought that Theo may have fetched more at the beginning of the season, I wasn't impressed with Garon and his I'm content with being the back-up schtick. theo needs to be pushed. Will Huet do it? Probably not, but if Bonk pans out (another matter altogether) then I'm happy. Kovalev, Theo, and Ribs . . . our summer trio. |
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Post by Forum Ghost on Jul 12, 2004 12:23:21 GMT -5
He's the no. 1 goalie for the Montreal Canadiens and will be earning a cool $6M for his services... hopefully that is motivation enough. IMO, a professional athlete, such as Jose Theodore, shouldn't need to be pushed. |
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Post by franko on Jul 12, 2004 13:24:04 GMT -5
Agreed. However . . . and he's not the only one in the NHL to need a push, is he? Otherwise Mike Keenan wouldn't keep coming back like the cat who wouldn't stay away.
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Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on Jul 12, 2004 13:40:19 GMT -5
He's the no. 1 goalie for the Montreal Canadiens and will be earning a cool $6M for his services... hopefully that is motivation enough. IMO, a professional athlete, such as Jose Theodore, shouldn't need to be pushed. Yoda says: Coach Claude Julien, full of smiles, leaves Raleigh with an improved formation "Bonk is the big center that we needed. He is a very intelligent player who thinks of the team before thinking of himself. He excels on the powerplay. We would like however that he goes to the net more often. He's not always perceived in a good way publicly, but in the game the reports on him are very positive. In any event, every player needs to be pushed to deliver the goods." - habsrus.proboards4.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&n=1&thread=9593 |
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Post by Forum Ghost on Jul 14, 2004 0:52:52 GMT -5
Well I'm not going to argue with the coach, but I have always had a problem with unmotivated players. NHL players are paid very handsomely for their services and it bothers me when I see players who need to be constantly pushed and who need to be motivated in order to play well.
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