‘Sabres officials in Rochester last week to announce an extension of the affiliation with the Amerks said they expect to use the No. 5 overall pick in next month’s entry draft on “the best offensive player available.” Not a bad idea, particularly if he can pay more immediate dividends than several of the mostly mysterious forwards the Sabres have picked in the first round of recent drafts (LW Barrett Heisten in 1999, C Artem Kriukov in 2000, C Jiri Novotny in 2001 and LW Daniel Paille in 2002).’