Amherst, NY (WGR 550)  -- The Sabres worked out at the Pepsi Center and forward Adam Mair was on the ice with the team. Mair was placed on waivers yesterday afternoon, but went unclaimed by the rest of the NHL.

Lindy Ruff said he will not be sent to Portland. Ruff added, "It's a difficult situation, but in one sense it's not. It was a chance for him to play and that doesn't mean he's not going to play here either, but it's always difficult to deal with." One of the questions was why this was happening. Ruff said, "It is numbers. You look at our right side, I like what we have at center. It's tough, we made some decisions, I liked the way Kennedy has played with Mike Grier coming on the right side and Pat Kaleta playing the way he played, it makes decisions tough. It's tough to have three guys sitting around, it really is. It's not healthy. Most teams will have one guy, possibly two and just bring somebody up from the minors with injuries."

Mair said, "For me I'm here, I'm part of the team so nothing has changed. My approach is I'm here to try to be a piece of the puzzle and try to help this team win hockey games." I thought the forward may have been under a lot of stress waiting, but he said not true. Mair added, "The situation's out of your control. There's no need to worry about it or feel stressed by it. You try to focus on the things you can control and that's the things on and off the ice to become the best player I can be."

Mair is not bitter and did not want to leave, "For me it's being here for the length of time that I have. You grow close to the city, the community, the team. You want to work at the common goal of the guys and that's getting back into the playoffs and trying to win a Stanley Cup. You put in so much time over the years that you don't want that time to feel wasted, you want to see it bare fruit." Mair was hurt to start the year due to hip surgery which allowed others to take his job. Mair said, "Coming in and not being able to work through training camp and maintain that foothold on my spot has made it more difficult, but that's part of the game. It's battling back into a position where you can get the sense to help this team again and I do believe that I can and I think the coaching staff believes that too."

 

Toni Lydman and Patrick Lalime still weren't practicing and won't play tomorrow vs the Oilers.