When Mike Ribeiro was placed on waivers Friday, some observers doubted whether he’d report to the AHL if he cleared.
Well, he did clear, and after being assigned to the Milwaukee Admirals on Saturday, he has indeed reported.
As you can see below, the 36-year-old forward arrived at Admirals practice this morning.
Mike Ribeiro has arrived. pic.twitter.com/5XNOMyly0s
— Admirals Roundtable (@adsroundtable) February 6, 2017
The Admirals host Cleveland tomorrow at UW–Milwaukee Panther Arena.
It’s been over a decade since Ribeiro played an AHL game. But as humbling as this demotion may be, at least he won’t have to watch from the press box as a healthy scratch anymore.
On Friday, Predators coach Peter Laviolette explained the situation.
“I think the lineup decisions we’ve been making as of late have found Mike on the outside,” Laviolette said, per The Tennessean. “He didn’t want to finish that way, being in the stands. He had a request for a trade, and we tried to help him with that, so he’s on waivers today to see if there’s somebody that’s going to pick him up.”
Presumably, it’s still possible that the Predators run into injury problems and Ribeiro gets called back up. With a strong performance down in the minors, he might even have his wish granted and get traded.
But it’s also possible that Ribeiro, a pending unrestricted free agent who turns 37 on Friday, has played his last game in the NHL.