EDMONTON - Adam Mair's season could be in jeopardy. The tenacious Buffalo Sabres forward on Monday was admitted into a Hamilton, Ont., hospital and kept overnight after his concussion symptoms worsened while visiting family in his hometown.
Mair was injured in the first period of Thursday's 2-1 shootout loss to the Phoenix Coyotes in HSBC Arena. The next day Mair underwent a brain scan that revealed no serious damage, but his recent setback has Sabres coach Lindy Ruff worried.
"Not good. He has gone the other way," Ruff said before Monday night's game against the Edmonton Oilers in Rexall Place. "He's doing worse than he was a couple days ago."
Ruff was asked if Mair's season could be over.
"You have that fear any time when you get into a week away and he's doing worse," Ruff said. "I don't know if it's season-ending, but it will be a long period of time."
It was unclear what problems Mair was having before he went to the hospital. Sabres physician William Hartrich was communicating with doctors in Hamilton.
Ruff suggested Mair's injury was the result of an accumulation of blows to the head and not any one incident from Thursday.
He struck his head on the ice in the Dec. 5 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning and was involved in a fight two nights later against the New Jersey Devils. Mair and Coyotes winger Tyson Nash collided and scuffled just before Mair left Thursday's game, but Ruff said the contact seemed relatively ordinary to him.
Mair has two goals, five assists and 45 penalty minutes in 37 games.
Ruff had better news on Mair's usual linemate, Paul Gaustad. The rookie center, who has missed three games while recovering from a concussion, skated Monday and could be cleared for Thursday's date with the Vancouver Canucks.

Michael Peca's numbers for Edmonton heading into Monday were underwhelming: seven goals, nine assists and 16:37 average ice time over 41 games. The Oilers, however, are confident the former Sabres captain has turned the corner.
"He's been extremely valuable," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said. "But we go east and we always get the same questions about Michael. "Why isn't he more productive? Isn't he disappointing?' Couldn't be farther from the truth."
Peca was perplexed through the first couple months of 2005-06. He was traded from the New York Islanders before training camp, shipped out to the Western Conference after eight seasons in the East.
His roles immediately changed. The Oilers took the captain out of Captain Crunch. He was placed on the first line of a team with others who were better suited. For some reason he wasn't on the penalty kill.
"They tried to bring me in as the first-line center," Peca said. "I'm not saying I don't have the skill to be that, but when you're off for a year you come back and try to rely on your instincts to get you through, but I wasn't doing a lot of things that I'd always done the last 10, 11 years.
"So mentally I wasn't as involved, wasn't as focused because I didn't feel like I was playing. It was weird mentally and emotionally. Finally I sat down and talked to them and said "Let me use my skill set and gain some confidence and grow into it.' "
Peca had one goal in his first 21 games. Plain old Mr. Crunch has five goals and three assists in the 13 games prior to Monday. He's killing penalties. He's on the power play.
"The last month and a half I've played as well as I have at any time in my career," Peca said.
With only 12 forwards on the roster, enforcer Andrew Peters played his second straight game, but he didn't have a dance partner. Edmonton tough guy Georges Laraque was scratched along with defenseman Igor Ulanov. Defenseman Rory Fitzpatrick and goalie Mika Noronen were healthy scratches for Buffalo.