Most of the team is mooching goals assists and pluses off of Ribeiro though. While the consensus appears he is not as strong on the puck, I think he is simply lost in the wash. Its not like he is missing wide open wingers, flubbing passes, his line just is not creating any offense. The lines have been changing quite a bit, and he has no scoring winger. I am not sold the system takes 20+ games to sort but maybe its true.
Nick is not a highlight flashy type of player though. This is... kind of him. He was never really a beast on the boards, big hitter, fancy dangles type of guy. He is more likely to dazzle with a defensive play rather than a nifty stickhandle around a Dman Riberio style. Nothing has changed. He is a solid all around player.
He could stand to be a little more aggressive driving the net at ES or getting into high scoring areas, but the NHL has evolved to even the high skill guys forced to play back to the goal along the boards on nearly every shift. He is not going generate much from there until he and the grinders get more reps, and try and shoot more. He is not Ulfie Dahlen.