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Report: Coyotes considering Ribeiro buyout (Update: It’s done)

MikeRibeiro

After just one season in the desert, Mike Ribeiro could be on his way out.

Per TSN’s Darren Dreger, the Coyotes are considering a buyout for Ribeiro, who came to Arizona last summer as the club’s big free agent acquisition by inking a four-year, $22 million deal.

UPDATE: It’s official. Per the club...

BREAKING: #Coyotes have initiated a buyout of the remaining three years of center Mike Ribeiro’s contract. (more)

— Arizona Coyotes (@ArizonaCoyotes) June 27, 2014


#Coyotes G.M. Don Maloney: “We wish Mike the best of luck in the future and thank him for his contributions with the Coyotes.”

— Arizona Coyotes (@ArizonaCoyotes) June 27, 2014


That the team would dump Ribeiro after such a short tenure is stunning, more so given the Coyotes couldn’t use compliance buyout on him. His contract is ineligible to be amnestied because it was signed after the CBA, so his buyout is of the regular variety and the Coyotes receive minimal cap relief.

Here’s what it looks like, per CapGeek:

RibsBuyout

Ribero’s first season in Arizona did not go well. He had just 47 points in 80 games -- down from the 49 he scored in 48 games the year prior -- and posted a career-worst minus-13 rating. His reunion with Dave Tippett (the two had history together in Dallas) didn’t go as planned, and Tippett actually made Ribeiro a healthy scratch late in the season with the club battling for a playoff spot.

“Obviously, I’m not helping much,” Ribeiro said at the time, per the Arizona Republic. “It’s up to me to play better and step up my game.”

The decision came just months after Ribeiro had a November to remember, scoring 11 points in 13 games while temporarily emerging as the club’s best center and playmaker. Since then, things went gone steadily downhill to the point where, in March, Ribeiro had nearly as many healthy scratches (two) as he did points (four).

Tippett was blunt in his assessment of what went wrong, shooting down the notion that Ribeiro’s carousel of wingers played a significant role in his decreased output.

“Really, ‘Ribs’ has to put the work in. That’s the bottom line,” Tippett said. “Everybody likes to rely on other players around them, but you gotta put the work in yourself first before you start looking at wingers.”