Mair in line as fourth center
The Sabres finished 2006-07 with seven players who have spent significant portions of their careers as centers.
Things change.
After losing three of those pivots -- Daniel Briere, Chris Drury, Dainius Zubrus -- to free agency, the Sabres went into training camp with only two certainties at the position.
Tim Connolly and Derek Roy will anchor the top two lines. Beyond that, there could be some shuffling, with Paul Gaustad and Jochen Hecht being tried out both in the middle and on the wing.
Sabres coach Lindy Ruff indicated today that Adam Mair is in line to be the fourth-line center. Mair, the fourth-line right winger for most of last season, lined up at center between Clarke MacArthur and Jason Pominville for today's intrasquad scrimmage.
"I've talked to him about increasing his role," Ruff said of Mair. "We've talked about using Gaustad on the top three [lines], and if we do that we need a fourth-line centerman. He can be that. He's an easy guy to rotate in at third-line right winger at the same time."
---Tim Graham
