FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2015, file photo, Nashville Predators center Mike Ribeiro (63) warms up before an NHL hockey game against the Vancouver Canucks in Nashville, Tenn. The chance the Predators took in signing Ribeiro to a one-year deal after Arizona cut the center is paying off very well for everyone. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

Mike Ribeiro has gone to great lengths this year to change his image. He asked Nashville to sign him and bought a home in the city in order to escape the fishbowl atmosphere of other markets. Has openly discussed his past, likely as a therapeutic measure. But sometimes the past catches up in some way shape or form.

According to a TMZ report, Ribeiro’s former nanny is suing the Nashville center and his wife for more than $1 million for an incident that happened in 2012.

This is from the report:

Ribeiro's accuser doesn't go into detail about the alleged incident ... only claiming she suffered unspecified injuries at the hands of the 35-year-old All-Star.

The woman also claims ... after the alleged incident, Mike's wife verbally attacked her.

That does not sound all too great for Ribeiro, who is having a renaissance year with Nashville at age 35 with 52 points in 64 games. He has, at least publicly, walked the straight and narrow off the ice, after Coyotes general manager Don Maloney trashed the center for behavioral issues after a buyout last summer from Arizona.

Per Ribeiro’s lawyer to TMZ:

"My clients strongly deny these allegations."

"We will defend the lawsuit fully. We anticipate the true facts will come out in due course."

The report does not indicate whether Ribeiro was then a member of the Dallas Stars or Washington Capitals.

Regardless of the claims, and countermeasures and who is telling the truth and who isn’t, this is not exactly the type of healthy distraction that helps a team or a player. When Nashville signed Ribeiro, it knew he had a bit of a history, one that hasn't been fully told in detail often, but one he said he had come to grips with.

From USA Today the day he signed a one-year $1.05 million deal over the summer:

"My wife and I still go to therapy, and couples therapy. What couples do to get healthy, I'm doing it," Ribeiro said. "The main thing is to keep my children happy. For years I've been talking the talk, but children learn by seeing action and doing what you do. And that's what I do every day, to be a better dad and a better person, a better husband."

And now we wait for the facts to play out.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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