Going into his draft, Peyton Kettles had a feeling Pittsburgh was interested.
That’s because 2022 first-round pick Owen Pickering, his teammate with the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos, mentioned that Penguins Assistant General Manager Jason Spezza had been asking about him. “It was nice to hear,” Kettles said.
And, sure enough, Pittsburgh ended up selecting the 6-6 defenseman in the second round (39th overall) in 2025.
“Elite defensive stick. Super competitive. Tough,” Penguins Vice President of Player Personnel Wes Clark said of Kettles at the time.
Kettles had to tap into his mental toughness to get through the long injury rehabilitation he experienced after that.
After the Kelowna Rockets acquired Kettles from Swift Current, the decision was made for Kettles to have surgery on his right shoulder, which was performed by Penguins head team physician Dr. Dharmesh Vyas at UPMC Shadyside Hospital.
A few days later, with his sling on, Kettles signed a three-year entry-level contract with Pittsburgh. While that was a positive for the bigger picture, the more immediate future felt pretty bleak for Kettles, as the recovery timeline was expected to be 6-7 months. He felt like returning to play that season in the Western Hockey League would be a long shot.
“To start, I didn't really think I had a chance,” Kettles said.
But once he got the sling off and started to do more rehab, the feeling changed. Kettles started to believe he could get back before the year ended.
“When I started to work out and my shoulder started to feel a lot better, I felt like I had a really good chance,” Kettles said. “And then starting to skate about two months out, I felt really good. There was no pain in my shoulder anymore, and starting contact, also no pain with that, which is great. And was just super excited to get back.”
Kettles managed to make a return for Kelowna during the Memorial Cup. They were the host club, competing against the playoff champions from the Western Hockey League (Everett Silvertips), Ontario Hockey League (Kitchener Rangers), and Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (Chicoutimi Sagueneens). Kettles played in all three of the Rockets’ games.
“It was definitely tough,” Kettles said. “Obviously, the first game is definitely the hardest. Felt like I was a little slow. But second game, I felt really good. Felt like I was playing my game. Just something that I learned was that you can do anything you really put your mind to, and I put my mind to getting back to playing, and made it one of my goals to get back, and I achieved it.”
As if Kettles wasn’t already excited enough for Development Camp in July, not playing a lot of hockey over the last calendar year ratcheted up the enthusiasm level. The Penguins named Kettles one of three captains for the week, alongside Ryan Miller and Zam Plante.
"I think it was hard stepping into the Memorial Cup when you've been out that long, but credit to him, he put the work in and jumped in there," Penguins Director of Player Development Tom Kostopoulos said in July. "Now he's got the whole summer to build the strength, so he can kind of play more physical and aggressive, and I think that'll come as the summer goes along."
Now, a couple of months later, Kettles is looking forward to playing even more hockey while continuing to round back into form.
“I think I'm a big, physical D-man,” Kettles said. “I have a good stick, and I like to move pucks. Break the team out of the D zone. I do like to jump up in the rush occasionally. That's not my full game. My full game is playing the D zone. That's where I thrive.”
