Should Ben Kindel Get The Nine-Game Trial? The Case For And Against

There are a lot of stories coming out of Pittsburgh Penguins’ training camp this year. Many of them involve young players making an impression and pushing for the NHL roster.

And one of those young players has been the biggest surprise of the pre-season.

Penguins’ forward prospect Ben Kindel has been a standout in camp this year, and his play has opened a lot of eyes. The 18-year-old center was selected 11th overall by the Penguins in the 2025 NHL Draft after registering 35 goals and 99 points in 65 WHL games with the Calgary Hitmen last season, and there were many unfamiliar with Kindel’s game who assumed that he was a reach at his draft position.

But one look at Kindel’s tape from last season goes to show that his performance in training camp up to this point should come as no surprise at all.

Although he may be a hair undersized at 5-foot-10, 182 pounds, Kindel doesn’t let that get in the way of what he’s trying to do. His hockey IQ, vision, edgework, and playmaking ability have always been hallmarks of his game, and those skills are translating on the ice at the NHL level – that is, at least in the pre-season.

Kindel seems to be getting better with every game he plays, and along with each game has come better competition. He hasn’t missed a beat, and it has led some to conclude that Kindel should be given the “nine-game trial.”

In the NHL, a junior player can play in nine NHL games before their entry-level contract would kick in at Game No. 10. If a player stays in the NHL beyond nine games, a year of their contract is burned regardless of whether or not they get sent back to their junior team at any point that same season.

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So the Penguins have some decisions to make regarding Kindel, especially if he continues to build on every performance. He is slated to appear in the Penguins’ sixth pre-season game against the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday, and he is the only player on the camp roster who has participated in four games up to this point.

Should the Penguins give Kindel a nine-game trial, or should they just send him back to Calgary for another season of development instead? Here is the case for and against the nine games.

Quite simply, Kindel has earned it.

Yes, there have been other young forwards in the pre-season up to this point who have proven themselves worthy of the NHL roster conversation, and many of them are suiting up Wednesday as well. This includes Tristan Broz, Avery Hayes, Filip Hallander, and Ville Koivunen.

Cases can be made for each of these players to make the NHL roster. They’re all older, more established, and less raw than Kindel, and they’ve earned more looks up to this point.

But Kindel has been the standout for the past two games. He only has one goal in four games, but this is a situation where the stat sheet doesn’t tell the entire story. Kindel was one of the best players on the ice against the Columbus Blue Jackets during Marc-Andre Fleury’s final game as a Penguin, and he was the best player on the ice in a tight-checking, well-played 2-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings on Monday.

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Many have argued, “Why burn a year of his entry-level contract on a terrible Penguins’ team? Let him dominate the WHL next season.”

While this is understandable to an extent, it’s also, arguably, a bit nonsensical.

Kindel is not a step behind. His reads are up to speed. He’s keeping up with the speed of the game in general, and he doesn’t look out of place in the slightest.

If a player is showing that he is NHL-ready – at least, for now, in this short sample – what is the hurt in giving him a nine-game trial to prove it’s not a fluke?

If a player is NHL-ready, what exactly is the holdup? Why hold a player back when he proves he can rise above the occasion? Is dominating a level he has likely outgrown best for his development, or is putting him in a league of players who will challenge him better?

The easy road would be to send him back to Calgary. But there is logic in giving him nine games to prove he belongs. If he does, he’ll be an important player for the Penguins this season. If he does not, he’ll be sent back to juniors like nothing happened. There’s not really much risk involved.

Even if the argument can be made that Kindel is NHL-ready, there are simply too many other factors that make giving Kindel the nine-game trial a bit too complicated.

For one, those other players are deserving, too. Koivunen is likely to make the roster, anyway.  Broz and Hayes have been every bit as good as Kindel for most of camp. And Hallander has not only had a pretty good camp, his experience and all-around game as a two-way center give him a bit of a leg-up on others.

In a perfect world, all of these players and Kindel crack the roster. But, that’s simply not realistic. There are too many other players – veterans and carryovers from last season alike – in the mix in addition to the prospects already. And several of them – such as Robby Fabbri, Connor Dewar, and Philip Tomasino – have turned in strong camps as well.

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This makes it unlikely that Kindel would be able to stick, anyway. So why bring him into the fold in the first place?

The other part of this concerns the Penguins’ goals for this season. It’s anyone’s guess what the roster is going to look like on Oct. 7, and Dubas said that the “young guys are coming.” It will be interesting to see just how many young guys make the roster over veterans.

But there is a world – and not one that seems far-fetched at all – where having all that youth on the roster makes the Penguins better than expected this season. Depending on organizational goals, is that the best thing for 2025-26?

Having Kindel on the roster would give a boost to the lineup, and, maybe, the Penguins don’t want to get too carried away with winning a ton of hockey games this season. Then again, maybe they do. A team is never going to try to lose on purpose, of course. But GMs have the power to make losing more or less likely.

Keeping Kindel would make that less likely. So it’s certainly something to think about.

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