Ben Kindel is a Canadian forward for the Pittsburgh Penguins who went eleventh overall in 2025, higher than almost anyone expected. Ben Kindel then played 77 games as a teenager in his first NHL season, which is not what a surprise pick usually does. Both his parents played professional football and represented Canada.
| Fast facts: Ben Kindel | |
|---|---|
| Current team | Pittsburgh Penguins, No. 81 |
| Full name | Benjamin Kindel, which is how the contract databases list him |
| Position | Centre in the NHL’s register, and he has played the wing |
| Shoots | Right |
| Born | 19 April 2007, Coquitlam, British Columbia |
| Height / weight | 5-foot-11, 183 lbs per the NHL. EliteProspects and PuckPedia list 181 |
| Drafted | 2025, first round, 11th overall, Pittsburgh Penguins |
| Contract status | Three-year entry-level contract signed 8 July 2025, cap hit $975,000, restricted free agent in 2028 |
| Previous clubs | Calgary Hitmen, Yale Hockey Academy, Burnaby Winter Club |
What happened to Ben Kindel on the Penguins’ plane?
On 20 October 2026, about ten minutes after the Penguins took off from Salt Lake City, Ben Kindel lost consciousness. The team physician and the medical staff were on board and gave him oxygen; he regained consciousness, the aircraft returned to the airport, and an ambulance took him to the University of Utah Hospital. The club’s statement that day said he was “conscious, alert and in stable condition”.
Two days later, Pittsburgh named the diagnosis. General manager Kyle Dubas told reporters on 22 October 2026 that it was vasovagal syncope, that there was no prior history of it, and that the cause was not known. The condition is a sudden drop in heart rate and blood pressure that reduces blood flow to the brain. “Obviously, we’ll work through it to figure (out) what exactly triggered it. I don’t know about it either,” Dubas said.
Kindel was placed on injured reserve on 22 October, missed two games, and returned to full team practice on 27 October 2026, in contact and as a full participant. He spoke to reporters the same day. “I wouldn’t say it’s that tough. For me, it’s in the past now,” he said. “It’s out of my head. Can’t control what happened. Just have to move forward.”
The channels and streams for every Penguins game are in our guide to how to watch the Pittsburgh Penguins.
What are Ben Kindel’s career stats?
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | P | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-23 | Yale Hockey Academy U18 | CSSHL | 29 | 17 | 29 | 46 | 18 |
| 2022-23 | Calgary Hitmen | WHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023-24 | Calgary Hitmen | WHL | 68 | 15 | 45 | 60 | 14 |
| 2024-25 | Calgary Hitmen | WHL | 65 | 35 | 64 | 99 | 39 |
| 2025-26 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NHL | 77 | 17 | 18 | 35 | 18 |
Completed seasons only.
Ben Kindel added 39 points to his junior scoring in a single year, and did it on three fewer games. He had 60 points in 68 games for the Calgary Hitmen in 2023-24 and 99 in 65 the following season, the seventh-most in the league, and he added 15 more in eleven playoff games to lead his club.
The run inside that season is what scouts kept citing. Kindel recorded a point in 23 consecutive games, a Hitmen franchise record that broke Pavel Brendl’s 20-game mark from 1998-99, and the second-longest streak in the league that season behind Gavin McKenna, who ran to 40.
Why was Ben Kindel’s draft a surprise?
Because almost nobody had him going that high. Pittsburgh took Ben Kindel eleventh overall at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on 27 June 2025, one pick after Anaheim took Roger McQueen and one before Philadelphia used a pick Pittsburgh had traded away to take Jack Nesbitt. Several draft evaluators called it a reach and the night’s first real surprise, and the objections were consistent: a smaller forward without elite skating, taken ahead of the consensus.
His junior general manager saw it differently. “It’s no surprise that Ben was taken this high with his exceptional hockey IQ and competitive nature,” Garry Davidson of the Calgary Hitmen said that night. “He continues to prove people wrong.”
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How did Ben Kindel’s rookie season go?
Better than the draft reaction implied. Ben Kindel made his NHL debut on 7 October 2025 at Madison Square Garden, played more than fifteen minutes in a 3-0 win, and scored his first NHL goal in his third game, against Igor Shesterkin on 11 October 2025. He finished with 17 goals and 35 points in 77 games, played six playoff games as Pittsburgh lost a first-round series to Philadelphia, and was used on the penalty kill and to close out leads.
The notable part is what did not happen. The nine-game rule meant Pittsburgh could have returned him to junior without burning a year of his contract; the question was argued openly through October 2025, and the club kept him. He has never played a game in the American Hockey League.
Who are Ben Kindel’s parents?
Two Canadian internationals, in football rather than hockey. His father Steve Kindel won four caps for Canada in 1998 and 1999, played 211 games for the Vancouver Whitecaps and had a season at Mons in Belgium, and his mother Sara Maglio won five caps, was in Canada’s squad for the 1999 World Cup and played for the Whitecaps’ women’s side, before her election to Simon Fraser University’s athletics hall of fame.
Kindel grew up in Coquitlam, British Columbia, and has said the family trade was common knowledge locally. “It was really cool. I never really got to watch them play, but obviously, everyone knew around my town,” he told NHL.com in October 2025. He has also described the Italian side of the family on both his parents’ sides, and the great-grandmother whose homemade gnocchi anchored the family dinners.
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Did Ben Kindel play junior hockey?
Three seasons in the Western Hockey League, all for the Calgary Hitmen, who took him in the second round of the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft, 43rd overall. Ben Kindel played one game as a fifteen-year-old, took a regular job the following season and was the club’s rookie of the year, and was an alternate captain by the end.
His last junior season brought selection to the WHL’s Eastern Conference first all-star team.
What is Ben Kindel’s contract?
A three-year entry-level deal signed on 8 July 2025. PuckPedia puts the cap hit at $975,000 a season through 2027-28, with a signing bonus of $97,500 each year and a base salary of $877,500, and has him reaching restricted free agency in 2028.
Because he played a full NHL season immediately, the deal did not slide.
What has Ben Kindel won with Canada?
Two gold medals at junior level. Ben Kindel won the Hlinka Gretzky Cup with Canada’s under-18 team in 2024 and the Under-18 World Championship in 2025, where Canada beat Sweden in the final, and he had a goal and six assists in five games. He has not played a World Junior Championship.
Every team’s channels are in our guide to how to watch NHL hockey.
Does Ben Kindel have a girlfriend?
There is no publicly confirmed information about Ben Kindel’s relationship status.
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