How Ben Kindel and Harrison Brunicke made the Pittsburgh Penguins, and what's next

For the first time since the 2006-07 season, the Pittsburgh Penguins are graduating a duo of teenage prospects from the CHL to the NHL. It was Jordan Staal and Kris Letang who took the tandem rookie lap for the Penguins’ season opener 19 years ago. In the time between now and then, the Penguins have vigorously sold off their assets to keep the “win now” machine humming and the championship window open for the Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin era. 

All manner of high-quality draft picks and prospects were jettisoned for fuel in the form of Stanley Cup-ready talent. It netted success in the form of three Stanley Cups, but it left the cupboard bare as can be for the most recent Penguins’ general manager, Kyle Dubas.

While Dubas hasn’t verbally committed to a complete teardown and rebuild, he’s made it clear that the direction of the Penguins’ ship needed immediate correction if they wanted to avoid significant pain in the post-Crosby era, or even in the twilight of his career. That meant acquiring draft picks and making trades for young players that could inject some much-needed youth into the parent club. 

Which brings us to the debuts of Ben Kindel (11th overall in 2025) and Harrison Brunicke (44th overall in 2024). Another combination of forward and defence, looking to inject some much-needed youth and skill into the Penguins’ roster. 

Each of these players showed discernible improvement as the preseason progressed, and I wanted to take some time to examine the video examples that contributed to their progress and discuss what needs to happen for them to stick beyond the nine-game tryout. 

This promotion has been about both of these players being unabashedly themselves and embracing the traits that brought them to this point in their careers. They have doubled down on what they’re good at and limited mistakes in the face of a higher-tempo style of play. 

For Kindel, that means he has leaned on his strong awareness and hockey IQ to be a connective element at even-strength and utilize the good defensive habits that brought him to this point to wreak a bit of havoc on the opposition. 

Kindel has always played the centre position like a bit of a safety in football. He likes to sit above the play, ahead of the puck carriers, and drive downhill with speed to disrupt them with his closing speed and active stick. We observed the same trend in the preseason, and Kindel was able to generate quality scoring chances off his defensive stickwork, just as he did in Calgary. 

The key aspect that stands out in that video example is the improvement Kindel has made in the explosiveness of his skating. I think concerns about his skating were vastly overblown, but you didn’t see the clear-cut burst you see now while he was in the WHL last year. Kindel appears to have more strength in his lower body and core, particularly as his skates leave the ice. There is a sharper extension and recoil now. His pushes generate more pop, resulting in a noticeable burst of speed in his first few steps and release. 

Kindel is using this explosiveness to mix up some chaos on the forecheck as well. In the next clip, he closes quickly on a developing breakout and generates a prime scoring chance at the net mouth courtesy of his turnover. 

I want to go back to the hockey IQ piece for a moment, because Kindel’s ability to make connective plays that turn defence into offence and then strike at the heart of the opponent has also been on display this year. In the next clip, Kindel supports the play down low, makes a quick exit pass under duress, and then immediately attacks. He hits the center seam, beats his defender to the lane, and then executes a clean and accurate shot in tight to finish the entire sequence that he, himself, started in the defensive zone. 

For Kindel, the usual tropes about size apply to his ability to stick with the parent club. The Penguins seem to fancy Kindel as a centre, primarily because of his prowess in the faceoff circle. Kindel’s move to the 3C position saw him replace Tommy Novak, who was sub-40 percent in the dot during the preseason. Playing Kindel at center means a large bulk of responsibility in all three zones, and a slate of puck battles against players that will be larger and more physically mature than he is at this time. How he handles those rigours, combined with the increased intensity of practices, travel, and games, will ultimately determine whether the Penguins are ready to keep him up beyond the ninth game of the season, which would activate the first year of his entry-level contract. 

If Kindel is to see increases in his ice time, it would have to come at the expense of a move back to the wing. He’s currently behind both Crosby and Malkin at the centre position, and would require a herculean performance to leapfrog either one of the duo mentioned above. Kindel has shown the ability to think and play the game at the appropriate pace. If the physical rigours are cleared similarly, there will be a clear path for him to play a full year.

On the defensive side, Brunicke has also been unabashedly himself this season. I think his preseason started a bit rockier than Kindel’s did, but he’s settled down and started contributing in ways we’ve become familiar with for Brunicke’s skillset. 

While new Penguins’ head coach Dan Muse has muted some of the wanton pinching and poor zone exits that plagued the Penguins in prior years, there’s still a lot of freedom for his defencemen to activate in the offensive zone to support the play. Unsurprisingly, that is where Brunicke has been at his best.

In the following clip, you’ll see Brunicke identify an opportunity to keep a puck alive in the offensive zone. But beyond that, he also has the confidence and recognition to see a primary scoring lane develop right in front of him. He wastes no time taking up the role of a forward to make a drive to the net and earn a quality scoring chance. 

That is the essence of what makes Brunicke dangerous on the backend. His in-game recognition of opportunities to make an impact play with the puck has carried over directly from Kamloops Blazers to his early tenure with the Penguins. In the following clip, we see that recognition result in a goal. 

Bruncike recognizes that a cycling forward will be running a “pick” play that opens up space for him to make a drive to the goal. He times everything perfectly, and his drive to the net ends with a beautiful finish right above the goalie’s ear from a tight space. 

Brunicke’s early struggles stemmed from transitional situations, where he had to learn to pick his spots effectively. In Kamloops, Brunicke is accustomed to having the burden of offensive creation rest heavily upon him. In Pittsburgh, that burden doesn’t exist. He had to both tone down his desire to carry a bunch of pucks through the neutral zone himself, and he had to tone up the rate at which he engages with opponents physically. 

To stick with the Penguins for a full season, the transitional defence piece is ultimately what Brunicke needs to solve. We’ve seen some indecisiveness and passiveness within his defensive game that has gotten him burned even when his teammates are making callouts for him. 

In the following example, Brunicke gets stuck in a bit of no man’s land. His partner calls him to push wider to take a streaking opponent making a centre drive, but you don’t see a full commitment from Brunicke to eating that lane and boxing out that player. 

Brunicke's immense confidence with the puck and ability to contribute offensively are things that almost everyone in Pittsburgh is sold on. If he can tidy up his business defensively, especially in transition situations, there won’t be many warts left for him to cure. Ultimately, that decision-making and gap maintenance in the defensive zone will likely dictate the next steps in Brunicke’s development. 

For both Kindel and Brunicke, they’ve earned an NHL opportunity because their games have already shown that they meet baseline pro standards. Their pace, processing, and attention to detail have shone in the early part of their careers. 

The next step is consistency. Both will need to manage pace over long stretches, sustain their physical strength through contact, and refine decision-making under pressure. If they can maintain those habits while continuing to build shift-to-shift confidence, their transition from promising junior call-ups to reliable NHL contributors will continue quickly.