The Buffalo Sabres have stopped contract talks with prospect Zack Kassian, the 13th overall pick in last year’s NHL Entry Draft, after he was charged with assault last week for allegedly punching a man in a Canadian bar.

“We were in negotiations,” Sabres general manager Darcy Regier said Tuesday. “We felt it was appropriate to stop negotiations at that time.”

Kassian, 19, was arrested on May 30 in Windsor, Ontario after a police officer heard a commotion and found a man with a chipped tooth and blood coming out of his mouth.

Regier said Kassian, who won a Memorial Cup with the Ontario Hockey League’s Windsor Spitfires last month, was “remorseful” about the incident. If the Sabres don’t eventually sign Kassian this offseason, he still has another year of junior eligibility.

“It obviously not something we condone,” Regier said. “I happen to believe that Zack’s a good kid. He just put himself in a position that going forward, you can’t put yourself in those types of position. It’s a learning process. It obviously, by his own admission, wasn’t a smart thing for him to do.

“It caught a wave,” he said. “They won the Memorial Cup. He was out with some of his teammates and he’s the big guy there and gets challenged and egged on, and those are things you have to learn to walk away from. You’re not on the ice. You can’t take that position.

“We’re going to continue to work with him,” he said. “I told him that on one hand there’s no way we’re going to abandon him, but he’s got work to do on the other hand.”

Kassian also had two hockey-related incidents this season. While a member of the Peterborough Petes, he was suspended one game for missing curfew when his girlfriend was in town, Regier said. The OHL suspended him 20 games in January for a vicious hit to an opponent’s head area.

“Three things over the course of the year have all been opportunities to learn, and he really needs to,” Regier said.

In other Sabres news:

* Coach Lindy Ruff was named Tuesday as one of 13 inductees into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame’s 2010 class.

* Regier wouldn’t comment on recent speculation he’s spoken to Toronto general manager Brian Burke about defenseman Tomas Kaberle. The Sabres sorely need a defenseman to quarterback the power play.

“I’ve talked to everyone in the league, so that would include Brian,” Regier said.

* Regier said he’s spoken to the agents representing defensemen Toni Lydman and Henrik Tallinder, the Sabres’ two biggest unrestricted free agents, and will speak with them again in the next week.

* It’s too early to know if Portland coach Kevin Dineen, who recently interviewed for Columbus’ head coaching position, will return to the AHL Pirates, Regier said. The Blue Jackets hired former Sabres player and assistant coach Scott Arniel earlier this week.

“He’s under contract,” Regier said of Dineen. “I spoke with him (Tuesday) morning. He loves doing the work he’s doing, but at this time, to say that no one else is going to come forward and ask permission to either talk to him for a head job or assistant job, it’s probably too early to know that.”

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