Mike Ribeiro Autographed Card

There are two Game 7s taking place tonight, and the one I feel like watching the most pits the New York Rangers against the Washington Capitals. I predicted the Caps in 7, just like I predicted the Boston Bruins would win tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs. It'd be nice for those to pan out, because I've been wrong a lot so far thanks to the Ottawa Senators (against the Montréal Canadiens) and San Jose Sharks (versus the Vancouver Millionnaires Canucks).

One of the reasons why I think the Caps will prevail is that Henrik Lundqvist shut them out last game, and he can't do that twice in a row, because this season, in addition to Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, they have Mike Ribeiro pitching in for offense - he of the 13 goals, 36 assists and 49 points in 48 games this season, good for second in team scoring, despite rarely getting over 19 minutes of ice time per game.

I waited for Ribeiro after a game about a month ago, where he got 3 assists against his former team (the Habs), and he signed this card for me in blue sharpie:

It's from Upper Deck's 2007-08 Victory set (card #184) and shows him wearing the Dallas Stars' former white (away) jersey, perhaps the best design the team has worn in Dallas. It's his short-version signature, because there were a lot of us there; the long-version contains more characters between the 7-shaped 'M' and the 8-shaped 'o'.

I usually consider Jason Spezza and Sidney Crosby to be the two best playmakers in the NHL. But Ribeiro falls right behind them, with a vision that only Andrei Markov can match. Hopefully the Caps advance further, 'cause I'm curious to see him against the Bruins. I'm fairly certain the Caps will retain his services this summer.