Mike Ribeiro might be traded (Photo taken by Melissa Grissom)

Finally draft day has arrived and many young NHL hopefuls will see their dream come true today, but behind the scenes NHL General Managers are also allowed to open trade talks between each other to move up spots in the draft or also trade players on their roster.

So now that brings us to Dallas, yesterday ESPN hockey analyst Pierre Lebrun posted an article stating that Dallas forwards Mike Ribeiro and Steve Ott are “getting attention”

Here’s a link to LeBrun’s article: http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/stars/post/_/id/18659/steve-ott-mike-ribeiro-getting-attention

In reality this is nothing new here in Dallas, almost every season since he came in the  2006-2007 season Mike Ribeiro‘s name has been circulating in offseason and trade deadline rumors. Here are a few examples:

Here’s one from our friend Mark Stepneski who was told by Joe Nieuwendyk that he had no intentions of trading Ribeiro. This article is from 2010: http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nhl/news/story?id=5568010

Here’s one from NBC Sports about Ribeiro to the Minnesota Wild also a 2010 article: http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2010/06/20/mike-ribeiro-to-the-wild-makes-sense-for-both-teams/

There are plenty more out there and some of those rumors were way out there, but would Dallas trade Mike Ribeiro or/and Steve Ott?

These trade rumors really started around trade deadline in February and really have never stopped since, but why didn’t Joe Nieuwendyk pull the trigger back in February when he had the chance, well obviously the right deal wasn’t in place. When shopping Steve Ott we are shopping a guy who plays center or wing  in all situations, is capable of putting up 20+ goal seasons and one of the top faceoff guys in the league, not exactly a guy you trade just for the sake of making a trade or shaking things up. So what would be the right deal that would ship Steve Ott out of Texas. Joe Nieuwendyk has pledged that he is looking to get younger and better so lets say James Van Riemsdyk or Jordan Staal’s names came across for Steve Ott would you say yes? (Both Staal and Van Riemsdyk have been involved in numerous trade rumors this past week)

And now Mike Ribeiro, in 461 career games as a Dallas Stars Mike Ribeiro has 407 points and in 31 career playoff games as a Star Ribs has 22 points so that is really close to a point a game player. So in a trade Stars are shopping there real #1 center, so in return you would expect the same back. Ribeiro was key in the production of Michael Ryder’s career year and the sometimes unstoppable chemistry between him and Brenden Morrow. So in Dallas they are really thin at elite centers professional and prospect wise, so trading your best one available before the season even starts already puts you in a hole production wise. So unless the deal is exactly how General Manager Joe Nieuwendyk wants it I do not see Ott or Ribeiro traded during this offseason.

Steve Ott and Mike Ribeiro are on Twitter: Follow them @Otter2nine and @Ribz63