Nashville Predators

Anthony Bitetto caps an arduous day of travel with a victory

By Jim Diamond

More than a day’s worth of work went into trying to get Anthony Bitetto to Nashville for Tuesday night’s game against the visiting San Jose Sharks, and all that work finally came to fruition, albeit just a little late.

Bitetto was needed back in Nashville for the Predators’ tilt against the Sharks because Anton Volchenkov was unable to go and newly acquired defenseman Cody Franson still does not have the green light to suit up for the Predators due to immigration issues.

Now there are no direct flights between Milwaukee and Nashville, and with weather systems wreaking havoc all over North America, including the one that dumped ice on Middle Tennessee Monday, getting between the two cities was not exactly easy.

After a Monday afternoon flight cancellation, he arrived at the airport at 5:30 Tuesday morning ready to fly to Nashville.

“I had a flight at 6:15 yesterday, cancelled, and then 7:00 am, cancelled,” he said. “I had a flight at 11:15 just delayed forever. It was ridiculous. Sometimes you have to go through adversity like that. It was a long day.”

With a 7:00 pm start time to Nashville’s game, there was little margin for any further delays. He said that Tuesday was the first time he ever had to eat his pregame meal in an airport.

Bitetto landed in Nashville in time to make it to Bridgestone Arena, but his gear, not so much.

“I made the flight and I got to baggage claim, and right now it’s probably 5:15 and the meeting is about to happen and I’m stressing out not sure what’s going on,” he said.

Eventually, the bag was retrieved.

As the team’s warmup skate began, Bitetto was not on the ice. In fact, forward Viktor Stalberg was taking line rushes as Seth Jones’ defensive partner. Bitetto was present on the roster card for the game, but when it began, he was not on the bench.

“I guess warmups aren’t that important,” Bitetto said with a laugh.

As the game neared its first media timeout, Bitetto appeared and took his seat on the bench. That media timeout came at 6:26, and while the ice crew did their flying V cleaning, Bitetto took a couple of spins to loosen up his legs. 32 seconds later, he received his first shift of the game.

“I had to get out there and do a couple of hot laps,” he said. “I think my first shift I had a 2-on-1 and I was like, ‘Oh, I’m back.’ I’m glad we got the win. That’s the most important thing about it.”

Predators head coach Peter Laviolette said that getting Bitetto into Nashville was quite the challenge, and that if needed, Stalberg would have gone into the lineup.

“Well, we had one extra player here,” Laviolette said. “There’s nothing really you can do about it. We’ve been trying for what seemed like 30 hours to get him here. The weather’s got everybody on their heels right now, so the fact that he made it here is great. Once he was in the air, we knew he would be here. We knew his equipment would get here at some point and he would join us in the game.”

Bitetto finished with 13:29 of ice time, not too bad for a guy who had been travelling all day, missed warmups, and even the start of the game.

Jones, Josi anchor 5-on-3 kill in Predators win

By Jim Diamond

At 8:33 of the third period of Thursday night’s game against the visiting Winnipeg Jets, Predators defenseman Victor Bartley was whistled for an interference minor. 29 seconds later, at 9:02, fellow blueliner Shea Weber was sent off for cross-checking, giving the Jets a lengthy two-man advantage of 1:31.

The old adage is that a goaltender is a team’s best penalty killer, but the effort displayed by the two defensemen and two forwards used on that PK was more than impressive in support of Pekka Rinne.

It is fairly customary for teams down two players to use a one forward and two defensemen formation, and that is exactly what Nashville head coach Peter Laviolette did in sending out Mike Fisher up front and Seth Jones and Roman Josi on defense.

After one shot on goal and two more attempts blocked, Gaustad was able to get off in favor of Mike Fisher at 9:48, but Jones and Josi were unable to change. Fisher did his part in the penalty kill, recording three consecutive blocked shots on Winnipeg’s hulking defenseman Dustin Byfuglien in the span of 21 seconds.

“That was a huge kill,” Jones said. “Just try to get in some shot lanes and Mike, and Goose, and Jos did a great job as well getting in shot lanes. We didn’t give them really anything, and Pekks made a huge save there in the crease as well.”

Josi, who started his shift after the Bartley penalty at 8:33, came off at 10:35 after Rinne stopped and covered a shot from Andrew Ladd. The shift of 2:02 was just the third-longest of the night for Josi, who also clocked shifts of 3:04 and 2:13 in the game en route to a game-high 28:00 of ice time.

“Fish had a couple of great blocks and we just tried to take the passing lanes away and obviously Pekks in net made a couple of huge saves,” Josi said. “You obviously try to talk a little bit, but it happens pretty fast on the 5-on-3, so you just try to read off each other, try to read off the forward too. Pekks has the shots and we just try to take the passing lanes away.”

Jones’ shift finally ended at 11:06, a lengthy 2:06 from start to finish. With injuries to Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm, Jones has inherited much more ice time lately.

“He’s getting an opportunity now with the injuries,” Laviolette said. “He’s got one of those endless oxygen tanks that seems like he could stay out there for two minutes, he could stay out there for a long time, one of those guys that can take on a lot of minutes.

“He’s played great, but now in an expanded role, you really get to see who he is. I’m sure he’s loving it.”

Longs shifts are one thing but penalty-killing shifts that exceed two minutes are exhausting. The young duo of Josi and Jones battled through their long shifts and helped preserve Nashville’s fourth consecutive win.

Anthony Bitetto won both a fight and respect in the locker room Tuesday

By Jim Diamond

Hockey’s anti-fighting crowd may not have liked what Nashville Predators rookie defenseman Anthony Bitetto did at 4:13 of the second period of Tuesday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, but Bitteto’s hockey-playing teammates loved it.

Inside Nashville’s blue line, Tampa Bay’s Brett Connolly was working over Craig Smith enough to draw a delayed holding penalty. As Connolly continued while lying on top of Smith, Bitetto skated over and engaged Connolly.

Both men dropped their gloves and Bitetto won the bout in a more than decisive fashion.

“It is part of the game, and it’s something that at times, it’s needed,” Bitetto said. “It was a situation where a skilled guy like Smitty was getting hit or whatever you want to call it. Sometimes the gloves come off and that’s how it goes.”

Bitetto was given an extra minor for unsportsmanlike conduct on the play, negating the power play that they were scheduled to have.

The unsportsmanlike penalty was the officials’ way of saying that Bitetto instigated the fight, but they did not want to be overly punitive of the Island Park, NY native since an instigating minor also carries with it an automatic 10-minute misconduct. The referees saw Connolly on top of Smith and understood that Bitetto was sticking up for a teammate, so they just evened things up penalty wise, and good for them.

“I thought his fight was terrific, well timed,” Predators head coach Peter Laviolette said. “He jumped in there for his teammate.”

After his seven minutes of penalty minutes were served, Bitetto retuned to the Nashville bench to his teammates standing and banging their sticks on the boards in approval.

“It’s always cool getting that ‘hoo-ha,’ and whatever,” Bitetto said.

Asked if Bitetto earned some respect in the locker room for doing what he did, fellow defenseman Seth Jones didn’t hesitate.

“Hundred percent, hundred percent,” he said. “Guys obviously want to play with someone that’s willing to put themselves on the line such as a fight. He did a great job, and he played a great game as well.”

Yes, Bitetto cost his team a power play. Yes, he was off the ice for seven minutes, leaving the team with just five defensemen. But Bitetto wasn’t playing first pairing minutes by any stretch of the imagination. He played a grand total of 10:09 in the game. That may be down a little from where he would have been had he not spent those seven minutes in the box, but two of those would have been on the power play and he wouldn’t have seen the ice there anyway. In Bitetto’s NHL debut January 17^th in Detroit, he played 11:01, and that was in a game the Predators weren’t in basically from the opening faceoff. In short, the other five defensemen probably didn’t mind picking up the extra shift or two.

Was the fight victory responsible for the two goals Nashville scored later on in the second? No.

Did the Predators win because Bitetto fought? Of course not.

But Bitetto went from being a guy the players saw briefly in training camp and briefly in his one previous game this season to a guy willing to stick up for his teammates. That is a personal victory that won’t show up in any standings other than the hockeyfights.com database.

Bitetto may be on the next plane to Milwaukee as soon as Mattias Ekholm is cleared to return to the lineup, but whenever he does go back, he knows that he has the respect of his teammates the next time he is in the Nashville locker room.

Shea Weber a beneficiary of Taylor Beck’s good listening skills

By Jim Diamond

Jumping over the boards late in the second period, Nashville Predators forward Taylor Beck saw a puck drifting towards him as he headed for the defensive zone of the Rangers.

Less than a minute after Roman Josi tied the game 1-1, the Predators were riding some momentum and looking to take their first lead of the game. With a good look at the net minded by Rangers goaltender Cam Talbot, no one could blame Beck if he took a rip at the puck. But something happened as the puck drifted toward the top of the right faceoff circle.

Beck’s eyes became cartoonishly wide, but he turned and peeled away, and before anyone could blink, Shea Weber stepped in and blasted the puck by Talbot on the far side. Talbot didn’t move as the puck went flying by him. The net was stretched to its absolute limit, so it looked like Beck made the right call on that one.

“I think I heard Webs yell, ‘Leave it,’” Beck said. “He’s got a harder shot than I do, so fortunate enough for him to put it in. I wanted it for a second, but I thought I would leave it for him.

“He’s the best shooter probably in the world, so I want to leave it for him for sure.”

On-ice communication can be difficult sometimes, especially in a full building like Bridgestone was Saturday afternoon. But Beck’s close proximity to Weber helped in that situation.

Weber confirmed that he did yell to Beck.

“I actually said, ‘Leave it,’ as I was winding up,” Weber said. “I didn’t know who it was, I just saw a right-handed shot coming off the bench. I thought I was in pretty good position to shoot it so I decided I would.”

The goal was Weber’s 12^th of the season.

As hard as Weber’s slap shot looked in winning the Hardest Shot Contest at last month’s Skills Competition during the All-Star Game weekend in Columbus, Saturday afternoon’s blast looked even harder.

After a tough start to the second period, the goals by Josi and Weber sent the team into the third period up by one.

“I think that was a really important moment in the game because I thought we played a really strong first period and we weren’t quite at our best in the next 15 minutes or so,” Predators head coach Peter Laviolette said. “We end up going down a goal, and in the last five minutes to be able to pump in two, I think changes the complexion of the game, puts some life in the building, puts some life back in us.”

Despite giving up a goal to Ryan McDonagh early in the third, Mike Ribeiro wired one home at 12:46 of the third, and that one proved to be the game-winner for the Predators.

Tough but necessary first game back from injury for Pekka Rinne

In the end, the game goes down as a 5-2 loss, but for the Predators, and more importantly Pekka Rinne, the game was not nearly as bad as the final score would indicate.

After three weeks on the shelf with a knee injury sustained January 13^th against the Vancouver Canucks, it was expected that Rinne would have some rust as he returned to the lineup Thursday night against the visiting Anaheim Ducks.

But rust combined with some seriously bad (borrowing a phrase from Barry Trotz) puck luck, added up to one night Rinne and the rest of his teammates would like to forget.

Things started off on a positive note even, with Rinne turning aside the first Duck shot on him early in the first when he stopped Jakob Silfverberg from the right side on a shorthanded attempt. The problems started immediately thereafter when Rinne thought he was going to hand the rebound off to Shea Weber, but Weber looked as though he thought the big Finn was going to cover the puck and get a faceoff. Silfverberg recognized the miscommunication, grabbed the puck, and flipped a backhand just underneath the crossbar.

“I was going to play it and keep the play going,” Rinne said. “Our guys were yelling at the same time. ‘Keep it, keep it,’ and then I was kind of between, didn’t really do anything. He was able to poke it off of me and just got it in front of the net and put it in.”

It was a goal that set the tone for the rest of the game.

“Obviously not the way we wanted to start, but the whole game was not good to begin with,” Weber said.

Later in the first, a Sami Vatanen shot deflected off Gabriel Bourque and by Rinne who couldn’t have seen it, making the game 2-0.

Early in the second, Matt Beleskey and Silfverberg scored goals 43 seconds apart to extend the lead to 4-0.

Following the second Silfverberg goal, Predators head coach Peter Laviolette called his one allotted timeout. Goalies don’t always come to the bench during a timeout, but Rinne did on this one, and then something interesting happened.

Laviolette walked to the end of the bench and spoke with Rinne as assistant coach Phil Housley addressed the rest of the team.

“I just wanted to make sure he was okay. I wanted to make sure that physically he was okay, mentally he was okay,” Laviolette said. “I think just coming back off a break like that, I’d rather have a conversation; maybe he wasn’t feeling that good. Everything was fine. I think staying in and battling like he did makes him better. He made some tremendous saves out there.”

Physically Rinne was fine, so there was no way he was going to come out of the game.

“It was good for me to get the minutes and get the full game under my belt,” Rinne said. “You can’t duplicate games in practices. Even though it wasn’t super busy for me, I was still tired, my legs were burning. It was three weeks off for me, now get it going again. I don’t see any more excuses after this one.”

Rinne finished with 21 saves on 25 shots faced. Corey Perry’s empty-net goal accounted for the final scoring margin.

In the end it was a loss, but a necessary step in what the Predators hope is Rinne’s return to pre-injury form. A form that earned him 29 victories and a .931 save percentage entering Thursday night. That same form the team will need him to revert back to if they wish to make a run far into the postseason, maybe even a late May matchup with those same Ducks.

Carter Hutton makes potential save of the season

Late in the third period of Tuesday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Nashville Predators goaltender Carter Hutton made what could be the save of the season.

With the Predators clinging to a 4-3 lead and on a power play even, Toronto’s Daniel Winnik hit the crossbar from the slot. Tyler Bozak chased down the rebound and threw the puck in front. The puck ricocheted off of Winnik and appeared to be headed by Hutton and into the Nashville net.

But then Hutton had a matrix moment.

http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/embed?playlist=742860&site=predators

“Just a pop out one-timer there,” Hutton said. “It’s one of those ones it hits his body and you are kind of like, ‘Oh no.’ I was able to just kind of spin and had my eye on it and I was able to catch it with my stick. It is one of those ones, you just get lucky sometimes too. You battle on every puck and sometimes it goes your way.”

Hutton had a better look at it than his coach did.

“I saw it quick, but I didn’t know what happened exactly,” Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. “It looked like it was earmarked for the back of the net, but it wasn’t in the back of the net, so something spectacular happened.”

Indeed it did coach.

Nashville fans sing ‘O Canada’ as a thank you to the fans of Toronto

By Jim Diamond

A mid-November tilt in Toronto between the homestanding Maple Leafs and the Nashville Predators produced disastrous results on the ice for the home team in the form of a 9-2 loss to the Predators. But prior to the start of the game, the home fans rescued an anthem singer whose microphone died during her performance of the Star-Spangled Banner.

The Air Canada Centre faithful cleared their throats and finished the U.S. anthem in a united voice prior to puck drop.

When the teams squared off against one anther in the Leafs’ only visit to Smashville this season Tuesday night, the Bridgestone Arena crowd returned the favor to their Canadian brethren by joining Brett Kissell in the singing of “O Canada” as a cross-border gesture of goodwill.

Following the song, the Maple Leafs players on the ice tapped their sticks in appreciation.

Nashville captain Shea Weber was impressed as well.

“That was neat,” he said. Like they pointed out, the Toronto fans did a great job there of finishing the American one. That’s pretty cool. I wasn’t sure if a lot of people know (the Canadian anthem). We don’t hear it a lot down here, so that was very impressive.

Weber is a two-time gold medal winner with Team Canada.

Good on you Smashville.

Now if the two countries could just find a way to eliminate the exorbitant tariffs on Canadians traveling south and Goo Goo Clusters heading north, that whole NAFTA thing will be complete.

Ribeiro’s three assists have him on pace to eclipse franchise record

By Jim Diamond

Halfway through the overtime period of Tuesday night’s game against the visiting Colorado Avalanche, Nashville Predators center Mike Ribeiro found himself inside his own blue line along the boards near the Colorado bench. Avalanche forward Alex Tanguay came charging at Ribeiro, so he calmly lifted a saucer pass to Craig Smith near center ice.

After taking control of the puck, Smith had a clear breakaway and won the game with a wrist shot just past the glove of goaltender Semyon Varlamov.

“There was a guy coming behind me I think, and I didn’t want to go too hard so he couldn’t reach it,” Ribeiro said. “I was just trying to give him time to get close to the blue line, just put it in an area that he can just skate with it and not force it too much. Great goal.”

The assist was the third of the night for Ribeiro, the second time this season that the Montreal native has posted three helpers in a game. Ribeiro’s teammates marvel at his ability to find them with a perfect pass no matter where they are on the ice and no matter how many opponents are surrounding him.

“He’s great in high-pressure situations,” Smith said. “He seems to have a knack for just holding onto the puck and finding your stick. He seems to be pretty patient and calm, so whenever he has it, you’ve got to be ready.”

Ribeiro picked up a pair of secondary assists on Nashville’s first two goals, an even strength goal by Roman Josi and a power-play marker from Colin Wilson.

After 46 games, Ribeiro has 32 assists on the season, good for .70 assists per game. Paul Kariya holds the franchise record for assists in a season. He posted 54 in 2005-06, which equated to .66 per game.

Rookie Filip Forsberg had the other goal for Nashville Tuesday, the lone unassisted goal of the night. He has played nearly the entire season on Ribeiro’s wing and has been the recipient of many of Ribeiro’s passes, even if he isn’t quite sure how the puck ends up on his stick.

“I’ve been playing with him all year, and I still don’t understand how he does it sometimes,” Forsberg said. “That saucer pass to Smitty on the game winner there, there’s only a few select players that can do that.”

After a week off due to the All-Star break, Ribeiro’s hands were anything but rusty after the extended layoff.

“I think it is more your legs than anything,” Ribeiro said. “If you move your feet, the rest gets going. I think it is more mental than anything. You have that break, guys go away, and to be focused yourself to come back and have a good game, I think it’s hard to do.”

But he did do it, and the team will need him to continue to do so as the anchor of the team’s top line if they want to further the success they have had through the first 46 games of the season. And if he does, he may just find himself at the top of the list of the franchise’s most prolific passers.

Miikka Salomaki’s first NHL goal puck retrieved by a childhood hero

By Jim Diamond

Click on images to enlarge

Late in the second period of Thursday night’s game against the visiting Dallas Stars, Predators forward Miikka Salomaki was in the slot in the Dallas zone, a step ahead of Stars defenseman Trevor Daley. Salomaki’s initial shot was stopped by Dallas goaltender Kari Lehtonen, but that rebound… oh that rebound.

Miikka Salomaki with a step on Stars defenseman Trevor Daley. (Jim Diamond/Rinkside Report)

With his skates just outside the blue ice of Lehtonen’s crease, Salomaki pounced on that rebound and deposited it behind his fellow Finn for the first goal of his NHL career. As he skated toward the corner, he snuck a peek over his shoulder, just to make sure the puck was in the net.

Miikka Salomaki’s scores his first NHL goal. (Jim Diamond/Rinkside Report)

“I wasn’t sure at first that it went in or not,” he said. “Just awesome feeling.”

Miikka Salomaki’s celebrates his first NHL goal. (Jim Diamond/Rinkside Report)

And with that goal, Salomaki joined an exclusive club of players who scored their first career goal in their first career game.

Salomaki made quite an impression on his head coach.

“It was a good first impression, right?” Peter Laviolette said. “Guys get sent down to the minors and they go and work on their game. Last year, he was one of the top guys there. This year, reports on him have been very good. He comes up and plays a straight north game, a hard game. The goal was a good example of that; get it and go, right down the middle. I thought he played a real solid game.”

Recalled from Milwaukee of the American Hockey League earlier Thursday, Salomaki was needed due to the sudden spike in injuries the Predators are experiencing at forward.

It was the second recall in the span of less than a week for Salomaki. He was brought up in time for last weekend’s two games in Southern California, but he did not see action against the Kings or the Ducks and was sent back to Milwaukee on Monday.

“It was good to get called up last week too,” he said. “I didn’t play, but I think it was good for me to see how people do things here and get in more.”

Getting a chance to be in the lineup Thursday, Salomaki made the most of it. Laviolette put him on a line with veteran Olli Jokinen, a Finn who Salomaki grew up watching and admiring. The two played together for Finland at the World Championships last summer.

“We played on the same line there the first few games,” Jokinen said. “He’s a good kid. He works hard. What you saw tonight, that’s what you are going to see from him.”

Jokinen made Salomaki’s transition to the NHL easier.

“It was so nice to play with him,” Jokinen said. “He’s been one of the best players of Finland like 20 years or something like that, and I’ve been watching him.”

And good guy Olli showed one of the reasons why he is so loved by his teammates. As linesman Brad Kovachik was about to fish the puck out of the Dallas net, Jokinen kindly requested the puck from Lehtonen so that his linemate would have a souvenir of his milestone.

Olli Jokinen gets Miikka Salomaki's first goal puck from linesman Brad Kovachik. (Jim Diamond/Rinkside Report)

Olli Jokinen gets Miikka Salomaki’s first goal puck from linesman Brad Kovachik and goaltender Kari Lehtonen. (Jim Diamond/Rinkside Report)

“You want to make sure they don’t shoot the puck away,” Jokinen said. “Sometimes the refs take the puck and switch the puck. You want to act quick and make sure that is actually the puck he put in. It was actually nice that Finnish goalie Lehtonen, he gave it to me.”

Asked if he remembered who got his first NHL goal puck, Jokinen smiled and said, “It was Ray Ferraro. I remember scoring the goal. Ferraro passed it to me behind the net and he grabbed the puck. I still have the puck in the office. It’s a great memory.”

You always remember the first one. And thanks to Jokinen, Salomaki will have that puck.

And since Jokinen’s hair looked so good skating away with the puck, here’s a shot of him doing just that.

Olli Jokinen skates away with Miikka Salomaki’s first goal puck. (Jim Diamond/Rinkside Report)

Mike Ribeiro: ‘No rush’ for talk about a new contract

By Jim Diamond

New Year’s Day is more than just an opportunity to eat black-eyed peas, at least as far as the NHL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement with the NHLPA is concerned anyway. Jan.1 marks the day that players who were signed to one-year Standard Player Contracts may enter into new deals with their current teams.

One such player who fits into this category is Nashville Predators center Mike Ribeiro. After the Arizona Coyotes bought out the final three years of his four-year contract with them last offseason, Ribeiro signed a one-year, $1.05 million deal with the Predators July 15th.

Playing in all 36 games so far this season, Ribeiro has had a strong start to his time with the Predators, scoring nine goals and adding 21 assists. While the hockey season isn’t yet half over, Ribeiro hopes that calendar year 2015 continues on the positive path that the second half of 2014 had for him both on and off of the ice.

“Hopefully I can start this year a little bit better than last year,” Ribeiro said following Thursday’s practice. “It’s a new year and hopefully it can be a full year for me and not half a year and stay on the same track and help the team win.”

When he signed with the Predators, Ribeiro openly discussed how problems in his personal life affected him professionally. Now with the former markedly better, the latter has followed suit. Ribeiro said that he and his family are enjoying living in Nashville.

“It’s been pretty low-key,” he said. “I’m trying to focus on work and family and we have a great group of guys here too helping me through the year. I’m just happy to be here.”

Another guy who is happy about Ribeiro being in Nashville is Predators head coach Peter Laviolette.

“He’s been excellent since day one,” Laviolette said. “He’s seamlessly fit right into the team and a big part of the team internally here in the locker room, but his on-ice play has been outstanding. Another guy that is a big reason why we sit where we sit.”

Since early on in training camp, Laviolette has had Ribeiro centering the team’s top line. One of his linemates for most of the season has been rookie winger Filip Forsberg.

“He’s a really smart player,” Forsberg said. “I just try to get open and I know he will find me. He’s also a great guy outside the rink. He’s been in the league a really long time, so he knows what it takes to be successful, so I just try to pick up as much as I can from him.”

With Ribeiro as his center, Forsberg has 14 goals and 21 assists through 36 games, Forsberg is at the top of the list of candidates for the Calder Trophy, given to the NHL’s top rookie.

When asked about his contract status, Ribeiro said he is not in a huge hurry to work on a new deal just yet.

“If it happens, it happens,” he said. “I think we will probably wait until the end of the year. I don’t see the rush, but if they are ready to talk, obviously we will talk, but there’s no rush for that.”

As a result of being one of few, if not the only team willing to take a gamble on Ribeiro last summer, the Predators are getting a significant discount on a highly productive top line center at just north of a million dollars. Ribeiro will turn 35 in February, but with the market for top-six forwards looking very thin, he will be eligible for a significant raise.

And money may not be so much of a driving concern for Ribeiro thanks to the buyout money he is receiving from the Coyotes. Arizona will pay Ribeiro just shy of $2 million per season through 2019-20.

For now, he is happy with his situation in Nashville. He said that he didn’t think his agent has had any discussions with Predators general manager David Poile as of yet and he is just worried about playing right now.