Lol, nobody is “forgetting how good Ribeiro was in his prime”. I’m very familiar with the player. Ribeiro and Demidov are nothing alike, and Demidov is just on a different level in terms of skill.
Ribeiro played almost exclusively on the perimeter, avoided contact like the plague to the point that he’d rather give the puck away than get hit, and used to flop to the ice like he was shot anytime another player breathed on him. He also had a muffin of a shot. He did nearly nothing off the puck.
Demidov has better hands, a better shot, is a better skater, and plays a gritty, tenacious game. He likes the dirty areas, and he’s a puck hound. He has better vision and passing as well, which was Ribeiro’s strong suit. And while he makes mistakes, Demidov has shown that he cares about and tries when it comes to defense and play away from the puck, and is willing to work hard at those things - Demidov is quite engaged when it comes to puck battles and board play, something Ribeiro always had zero interest in.
It’s pretty clear what your intent was with the comparison, and it wasn’t to genuinely highlight similarities between the two players, because there is almost none. Ridiculous comparison.
