Even though rosters were trimmed to 23 on Saturday, there was no guarantee that the Pittsburgh Penguins were going to carry those exact 23 players into their season opener against former head coach Mike Sullivan and the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.
But that does appear to be the case – which is good news for two top Penguins’ prospects.
On Monday, Penguins’ head coach Dan Muse confirmed that defenseman Harrison Brunicke and center Ben Kindel will both be making their NHL debuts when the Penguins take on the Rangers to kick off the 2025-26 season.
Brunicke, 19, and Kindel, 18, will be the first set of teenagers since Jordan Staal and Kris Letang on Oct. 5, 2006 to debut together for the Penguins, and they are just the third pair in team history – with the other being Mario Lemieux and Doug Bodger on Oct. 11, 1984.
“I’m excited for both of them. They earned this,” Muse said. “I said it the other day… this wasn’t something that we came in – that we started training camp or went through the summer – saying, ‘Okay, these guys are going to be in.’ Those two players were given an opportunity, and along the way, they earned new opportunities. And through those new opportunities, they’re now here today.
“It was multiple steps, though, that they had to go through to get to this point. I mean, there were points in exhibition where we’re purposely putting them in those hard situations to see how they handle them, and they handled them well. So, now we’re onto going into [Tuesday], and both guys have earned the right there to be in that opening night lineup.”
Brunicke – selected 44th overall by the Penguins in 2024 – nearly made the team out of training camp as an 18-year-old last season. He faced some adversity in his 2024-25 season with the Kamloops Blazers of the WHL, as a broken wrist sidelined him for nearly two months. He still managed to put up five goals and 30 points in 41 games last season, and he came into this year’s camp looking even better than he did last time around.
“Confidence. He’s got tons of confidence with the puck,” veteran defenseman Kris Letang said. “He has a pretty good set of skills, whether it’s skating, puckhandling… and, obviously, his confidence makes him really dangerous. He can hold onto pucks and use his patience. So, it’s going to be exciting what he can do at this level.”
Kindel was selected 11th overall in 2025, and he was easily the best player in at least three of the Penguins’ pre-season games. He also played in more pre-season games than any other Penguins’ player, appearing in six of seven and registering a goal and three points.
Brunicke, Kindel & Cootes Projected To Start 2025-26 Season In The NHL
Three WHLers are projected to start the 2025-26 season with their NHL clubs. Harrison Brunicke and Ben Kindel are still with the Pittsburgh Penguins, while Braeden Cootes has yet to be reassigned by the Vancouver Canucks. With rosters needing to be set by Monday, it appears that all three will make their NHL debuts before being returned to the WHL.
The 5-foot-10, 181-pound centerman registered 35 goals and 99 points in 65 games with the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL last season and has impressed the very best early on.
“He’s got a lot of poise with the puck, a lot of speed. Those two things probably stand out the most,” captain Sidney Crosby said. “I think he’s using his speed well, he’s finding guys, he distributes the puck really well, and he seems like he’s confident. It doesn’t seem like it’s been too fast for him or anything like that up to this point. He’s done a great job.
“Sometimes, it takes time to adjust to all of that. It seems like, with every game, he’s getting more and more comfortable.”
In practice Monday, Brunicke was working on the bottom pairing with left defenseman Caleb Jones, while Kindel was centering Tommy Novak and Philip Tomasino on the third line – a combination that has stuck for the last week or so. Both players were also working on the team’s second power play unit.
Crosby Set To Tie Prestigious NHL Record This Season
By now, Pittsburgh Penguins’ captain Sidney Crosby approaching NHL records is a relatively regular occurrence.
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