Portland, ME – With the Buffalo Sabres in Boston to play the Bruins on Monday night, Sabres’ GM Darcy Regier had an opportunity to take in a Pirates game. He spoke to the media about the recent recalls of Tyler Ennis, Mark Mancari and Nathan Gerbe after the Pirates defeated the Hartford Wolf Pack, 3-2, at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

(Here’s the transcript of that conversation)

Buffalo really hasn’t had to rely on Portland very much this season?

“No, knock on wood this will be just temporary. We’ll know a little more tomorrow, but I don’t think this will be long term.”

Are (Ennis, Mancari and Gerbe) on emergency recall? Do you expect to use your regular recalls for any of these players?

“Right now, they are all emergency recalls. We’ll have to see, but Connelly’s situation is “hopefully” very short-term, Tomas Vanek will be seen (by the doctors) tomorrow. We’ll get a better medical understanding tomorrow. Torres should be back pretty soon.”

With a third of the Pirates offense gone. What did you think of today’s game? (Pirates win 3-2)

“They played hard. I think that’s (Pirates’ head coach) Kevin (Dineen’s) trademark. Obviously, when everyone is here it’s a skilled lineup, but at the end everyone has to play hard. Kevin gets the most out of his guys.

Have you seen that (work ethic) translate to Buffalo when you’ve need to recall a player?

“(Kevin) and the coaching staff do a fantastic job and it does… We see it when the players come up, they perform very well.”

Does that make it your job difficult when calling a player up from Portland?

“I rely on Kevin for that because I’ll give him some parameters for what were looking for… That’s why he’s here, and the players need to know that he’s the one recommending them because they play for him.”

If the Ennis, Mancari and Gerbe are going to be in Buffalo longer than you expect do you plan on bringing in a player to Portland?

“We’ve talked about that. I told Kevin yesterday if he wanted to bring someone in for today he could do that. It was so last minute by the time I spoke with Kevin, it was 11pm last night, and it’s been a bit of a scramble mode. They never really had time to get anyone in here.”

Are there any prospects who you would like to see in Portland?

“The player that we’re in negotiations with now that would be the most likely consideration to join (Portland) would be Luke Adam. I think for someone like him to experience (pro life) whether he is playing or not, but being here and getting a sense of what’s involved.”

What’s been your impression of Tyler Ennis with his time in Buffalo?

“He came in and just slid into a position. Lindy put him on the power play right away, he really took him from the position he was playing on the power play (in Portland) and put him in the same hole in (Buffalo) with a different cast, but he still did the same thing.”

“That’s what you want to happen.”