Sarah McLellan

azcentral sports

The acquisition of center Mike Ribeiro last summer was easily considered a coming-of-age moment for the Coyotes.

Although IceArizona wouldn't officially acquire the team until exactly a month after the Coyotes signed Ribeiro, one of the headliners of last year's free-agent class, his arrival signaled the team finally being able to shed its underdog skin and competitively pursue the talent and skill they were short on during their four-year tenure without an owner.

But nothing has really gone as expected since this change.

The Coyotes struggled during the regular season, missing out on the playoffs for the second consecutive year, and on Friday, they cut ties with Ribeiro by buying out the remaining three years of his contract — a decision that wasn't prompted by money.

"Mike had some real behavior issues last year with us I felt we could not tolerate going forward," General Manager Don Maloney said. "To his credit, he has been getting help this offseason and obviously would hope he continues. But at the end of the year and all the background checking and what happened, we felt that for us to move forward, we couldn't have him a part of this team."

Since Ribeiro's contract was signed under the newest collective bargaining agreement, this is a regular buyout and not a compliance one — which would have alleviated his cap hit.

Instead, Ribeiro will be paid approximately $1.94 million for the next six years, according to capgeek.com. He was set to earn $17.5 million more from the Coyotes after signing a four-year, $22 million contract last summer as the team's prized free agent pickup – filling a void as their No.1 center.

This move saves approximately $3.55 million in cash this season and overall, the team saves about $5.83 million.

"We realize this is a fairly significant cost to us, but we also know we have to have certain people and leaders here to make us successful and certain levels of behavior we'll tolerate," Maloney said.

"Hey, we all have our issues and no one's an angel. When we're looking at older players, there's certain things we accept and certain things we can't and it doesn't matter how much they make. They have to do the right thing for the organization, and we feel this is the right thing."

The Coyotes signed Ribeiro, 34, hours after the free-agency period opened July5 last year. His previous relationship with coach Dave Tippett seemed to calm any potential worries about how he'd assimilate into this group — on and off the ice.

"We weren't naive to some of the issues of the past, but we felt it could be manageable and managed," Maloney said. "Obviously, it was a mistake."

Ribeiro struggled to find chemistry with linemates and despite some early success, his performance last season wasn't up to snuff. He tallied 16 goals and 47 points and was even benched for two games in the midst of the team's playoff push.

Neither Ribeiro nor his agent returned messages before press time.

Ribeiro's absence leaves the Coyotes, once again, searching for a top centerman, but his loss does add some much-needed cash into their spending pool.

The Coyotes budget is expected to land between $55 million and $57 million, and their current payroll dropped from about $51.4 million to nearly $47.9 million with the buyout.

"This doesn't necessarily make us a better team next year per se, but it makes us a better organization in the long-term and that's what we're looking for — long-term success," Maloney said.