Rookie Ben Kindel Checks Another Box

After the Penguins drafted Ben Kindel 11^th overall this past summer, President of Hockey Operations and GM Kyle Dubas explained how that pick came to be.

Right from the beginning of the 2024-25 season, Vice President of Player Personnel Wes Clark and the area scouts keyed in on Kindel as a player they had a lot of belief in. From there, he continued to get better and better, finishing with 99 points in 65 games for the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League.

“We understand he’s not the biggest guy, but you look at the production and you look at the intelligence and the skillset, and where we came to in the last couple of days is that if we passed on him, we had intel that he wasn’t going to go much further beyond [our pick],” Dubas said that night.

“And we just didn’t want to look back on it and say, ‘Geez, why did we pass on this guy that had 99 points and then stepped up his game in the playoffs?’ It has all the makings of one of these prototypical ones that we were going to kick ourselves about.”

Dubas reiterated that Clark was certain about Kindel for months, that he should be in that mix and be a great pick, despite being ranked lower by many scouting services and experts. So, they went ahead with the selection – which turned out to be an excellent decision.

After becoming the fifth-youngest player in franchise history to make his NHL debut in the season opener, Kindel played his 10^th game with Pittsburgh on Thursday in Minnesota. That means he is officially in the first year of the three-year entry-level contract signed on July 8, an important rookie threshold.

“It’s very special. Obviously, it’s just a number, though. It doesn’t really change anything for me,” Kindel said after morning skate. “I’m just going to continue to play my game and try to help the team win in any way I can.”

Kindel went on to score his third career NHL goal in the contest while playing on the top power-play unit with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust, and Erik Karlsson.

"Nothing seems to faze him," Rust said. "There is no moment that seems to be too big for him, even when he's out there with our first power play, and he's out there talking to Sid and everything... if I was that age and I was doing that, I'd be a little bit starstruck. He goes out there, snaps the faceoff back, goes in there, scores a goal. That just says a lot about him."

Right before inking his deal, Kindel had attended Penguins development camp. There, he shared some advice from Clark that had resonated with him: to stay hungry, never look back, and have the mentality of an undrafted player.

“He’s definitely a big motivator of mine,” Kindel said. “It’s always that kind of mindset, even now. Still stay hungry, still want to accomplish more things, as a team and as an individual. There’s so much more to accomplish still, and that’s been my mindset all the way through, and is going to continue to be.”

Today, Kindel was asked if he had considered the possibility of making the team back then.

“Yeah...” Kindel said with a laugh before continuing, “I mean, maybe it wasn’t very realistic, I guess. But I think there’s been examples in the past. So, whenever you go to an NHL training camp, your goal is to stay as long as you can. That’s just always been the mindset, stay one more day. Just keep surviving.”

That mindset has stood out to Penguins Head Coach Dan Muse, who said that while Kindel has a quiet confidence – “I think there has to be, if you’re an 18-year-old playing in this league,” he said with a laugh – there’s also plenty of humility.

“He knows he’s going to come and work and not take anything for granted. He’s been showing that there from the first day,” Muse said. “That’s probably one of the things that’s gotten him to this point.”

It helps that Kindel's parents, with dad Steve Kindel and mom Sara Maglio, were both professional soccer players and still work in the sport.

"Two biggest things I learned from them are the mental side of the game, and just being strong mentally," Kindel said. "And then as well, just how to take care of your body before and after, and how to eat right, and do all those little things that you don't see on the ice or on the field, but that help you a lot."

Muse said it’s easy to see Kindel’s offensive instincts, especially in his first two goals at this level. But they’ve been extremely impressed with his defensive instincts.

It’s one thing for a player to say they take pride in that area, which Kindel did after being drafted, adding that he models his game after Montreal’s Nick Suzuki. It’s another thing for someone his age to go out there and execute on it, and Kindel has been terrific in that regard, with the Penguins trusting him to handle the responsibility of playing center.

“I think a big part of that area is just the mindset, like having a competitive mindset, and just kind of using my hockey sense,” Kindel said. “Like, I've always taken a lot of pride in that part of the game and respected that side of the game and guys that play that game well.”

Since coming to Pittsburgh, Kindel has worked with Penguins assistant coach Nick Bonino on continuing to improve that area.

“He was a really responsible, 200-foot player when he was playing. So, yeah, I think learning a lot from him, just little things,” Kindel said. When pressed for a specific example, he said, “Working with Bones in the defensive zone on just being patient and not overextending myself... and just kind of like, taking a step back and reading the game versus going and pressuring all over the place. Because if you get running around against a lot of these skilled players in the NHL, they'll make you pay.”

Muse said whatever they teach Kindel, he has the ability to go out there and apply it in a game.

“He’s processing the information that’s being shown to him,” Muse said. “That’s a positive as well.”

That being said, as Dubas has mentioned a couple of times now on the GM Show, there are a number of rookie threads to follow. So far, Kindel has checked making the team, playing his first game, and now, the 9-10 game entry-level threshold. There’s also the 40-game threshold, which would count as a full year towards unrestricted free agent status, and the World Junior Championship.

“This is another (checkpoint),” Muse said. “We’re going to be continuing to evaluate. We’re going to be continuing to work with him, and using all departments and all resources we have to make sure that everything we're doing is the best thing for him now and for the future.”