skill wise it's debatable. Ribeiro looks to be the more creative playmaker by a fairly wide margin. That being said from an attitude and willingness to compete perspective we can at least expect Gagner to provide a lot more than what we saw night in and night out from Ribeiro.
Rib basically checked out after the all-star break, and was on the rock in Jan already.
So Gagner will be somewhere between his 1st half and 2nd half performance, hopefully closer to 1st half of Rib's year.
There is a belief out there that Gagner just needed a change in scenery and could be a set for a huge breakout year. He won't be under the microscope like he was with the Oilers and we do know Tippett will shelter his minutes to place him in good situations; especially early on to build confidence.
Not if Tipp plays him with Mossy and Klinker; even Rib at the top of his game would not be able to carry the load long on a line like that. They need to give him a realistic chance, like having at least one other offensively gifted player on his line.
Maybe GMDM has another magic trick up his sleeve, like this trade, basically get something for nothing. Cause that's what it will take to get the other forward to play either with Hanz or Gagner, in order for us to have 3 half decent lines to put out there.
