1st-rounder Ben Kindel aims to stay hungry, develop into key part of Penguins' future

Much discussion around the Pittsburgh Penguins recently has been about their future. This offseason, nothing has been more important to their aspirations than the NHL Draft.

With much of the hope for the future being placed on early-round picks, players such as the 11th overall selection, Ben Kindel, know the organization is counting on them to develop to lead it.

“Obviously, you want to try and get there as fast as possible, but I think I have a lot of attributes that I can use to get to the NHL,” Kindel said. “I have to work on my strength, my skating and a few other things. But, yeah, I hope to get there as quick as possible.”

The 2024-25 season was Kindel’s third with the Western Hockey League’s Calgary Hitmen. In 65 games, the Coquitlam, British Columbia, native led Calgary with 64 assists and finished second in points with 99 and goals with 35.

Among WHL players, Kindel was seventh in points and eighth in assists. In the playoffs, the WHL East first-team all-star led the Hitmen in goals (8), assists (7) and points (15) in 15 games.

Kindel also shone in the International Ice Hockey Federation’s World Under-18 Championship. The forward had a goal and six assists in five games to help Canada win gold. Despite Kindel’s smallish frame (5-foot-11, 181 pounds), the Penguins are confident that his skills, which have allowed him success at the junior level, will translate well to the NHL.

“An extreme characteristic of him is intelligence. His hockey sense relative to this class is elite. Ninety-nine points. Understands the game at a super high level. Just big belief in Ben in terms of the upside,” Penguins vice president of player personnel Wes Clark said June 28. “And he influences the game on both sides of the puck. Yeah, we think the upside is sky high, and we’ll do our best to help him improve in the areas he needs to improve in and see where it goes.”

Kindel practiced for the Penguins for the first time Thursday at development camp at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry. He was glad to mark another milestone on what he hopes to be his journey to the NHL.

“It’s, obviously, nice just to be on the ice, put on the jersey for the first time and just kind of go out there and do what you do best,” Kindel said. “And I really enjoyed it.

“Obviously, it’s a little bit easier because you can go through it with other people.”

One of the prospects also attending development camp is forward Oliver Tulk. Though unsigned, Tulk played with Kindel and 2024 second-round draft pick Tanner Howe at Calgary during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons. Tulk, particularly, has helped Kindel handle the time from the draft process to development camp.

“Obviously, we were both really excited to kind of continue our journey together,” Kindel said. “We’re good buddies already. Yeah, he’s just really excited. I’m really happy.”

It is hard for Kindel to complain about this past week. Following the excitement of draft night and meeting players such as Sidney Crosby, whom he has looked up to his whole life, it is up to Kindel to put in the work so he can become the player the Penguins need him to be.

“Wes Clark has just helped me a lot. (He’s) given me advice just to stay hungry and never look back because the draft is past now for me,” Kindel said. “And I’m just looking to move forward and get after it and just have that mentality of more of an undrafted player, and just stay hungry.”