Colorado Avalanche: News from around the NHL September 9th, 2014

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Max Iafrate and Nick Magyar are heading to Colorado's training camp.

The exodus begins Tuesday and players will continue to trickle out of Kitchener throughout the week as they head to their respective pro clubs.

So the lineup will be sparse — at least as far as experience goes — for Friday's exhibition tilt against the Niagara IceDogs running at the Beamsville Arena at 7 p.m.

"It's not something that we worry about because every team has to go through it," said Rangers head coach Troy Smith. "It's an opportunity for the guys who are here to show what they can do."

Among those leaving are forwards Nick Magyar (Colorado), Ryan MacInnis (Arizona), Justin Bailey (Buffalo), Brent Pedersen (Carolina), Darby Llewellyn (Detroit) and Brandon Robinson (Detroit), and defencemen Max Iafrate (Colorado) and Dmitrii Sergeev (St. Louis).

All of them are expected to miss Friday's game. It remains to be seen who will be back in time for the team's final exhibition affair at the Aud against the Sudbury Wolves on Sept. 17.

Who are some of the OHL's most "compelling" characters?

Darnell Nurse, defence, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds — Among shutdown defencemen, the chance of Nurse returning to the 'Hounds seems greater than NHL No. 1 overall pick Aaron Ekblad's odds of being back with the Barrie Colts. That means heavy expectations for the 19-year-old to be a rock — a mobile, hostile and agile one — for both the 'Hounds and Hockey Canada, whose ratio of expectations to accomplishment has been very high of late. Sault Ste. Marie is in a better place than it was before Nurse arrived in 2011 but has only one playoff series win to show for the past six seasons. Team Canada's recent history, well, you already know about it.

The Komets are adding to their roster.

The Fort Wayne Komets announced that veteran forward Matthew Pistilli has agreed to terms and has been added to the preseason roster.

The Komets are the ECHL affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League and the Lake Erie Monsters of the American Hockey League.

Pistilli, 25, completed his fifth pro year last season splitting time with Charlotte and Bridgeport in the AHL while also appearing in 31 ECHL games with Florida where he posted 40 points (17g-23a).

Alfredsson hasn't decided if he will play this season.

Daniel Alfredsson has the Red Wings in a holding pattern as he waits to decide whether to play a 19th NHL season and second in Detroit.

But the teammates who have been skating with him this month have been trying "every day" to convince him to come back, Red Wings defenceman Niklas Kronwall said.

"Alfie’s a guy that I think it’s hard to replace because not only does he bring a tremendous amount of talent on the ice, but he brings lots of leadership," Kronwall said Monday at the league’s player media tour. "His veteran presence is extremely valuable and I don’t think you can put a price on that. It’d definitely be different without him if that would be the case."

Quintal was named V.P. of player safety.

Former NHL defenceman Stéphane Quintal is the NHL’s new senior vice-president of player safety.

He’s been doing the job on an interim basis since Brendan Shanahan left the position in April to become president of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The league says it interviewed many qualified candidates but determined the player safety department would be "served best under Quintal’s continued leadership."