Unfortunately Rizk was drafted by a team in turmoil, the Spirit having just moved from North Bay to their new digs in Saginaw.  In each of Jean-Michel's seasons in the OHL the Saginaw Spirit have finished last in the very competitive Western Conference.  During his first season in Saginaw, a building one for the team where they traded their top scorer Chris Thorburn to the Plymouth Whalers, Rizk finished 3rd on the young team in scoring.  He had 9 goals and 24 assists in what was a very satisfactory underage rookie campaign.

Despite a solid rookie season, Rizk's career hasn't exactly taken off like many of his peers.  Those peers include: Robbie Schremp, Wojtek Wolski or even Kitchener's own: Evan McGrath.  During his sophomore campaign another filled with team turmoil for the most part, Rizk finished with fewer points than he did during his rookie season.  It was primarily to blame for him being overlooked in the 2004 NHL draft, his first year of eligability.

In his third season and showing little signs of improvement since his rookie season, Rizk requested to be dealt.  Most of his peers (Bissonette, Franchin, and Brown) were being traded out of Saginaw, and perhaps he wasn't patient enough as the Spirit appear to have turned the corner.  The asking price was utility forward: Joe McCann, a 2nd round pick and a 6th round pick.  A very modest price for a former 5th overall pick.  The Rangers, specifically head coach Peter DeBoer who has brought several project players over to the Rangers a few recent ones include: Nathan O'Nabigon and David Clarkson.

Rizk's aquisition was specifically to give the Rangers' some more pressence on the wings, an implied weakness due to prominant grads such as: O'Nabigon and Kanko.  Rizk is a tough customer along the boards, and fits in very well with a very, very scrappy group of Rangers' wingers, immediately he was paired together with Ryan Donally who was acquired on the same day.