Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Why is everyone UNDERRATING Penguins forward Ben Kindel?

Episode Date: August 25, 2026

As the season draws closer, it appears many are not buying into the Ben Kindel hype, but is it fair? Patrick and Hunter begin the Tuesday edition of the Locked On Penguins Podcast by once again scratching their heads over a Corey Pronman article where he ranked Ben Kindel 19th in a 2025 NHL Entry Draft redraft. (2:25) Despite being the second-most productive player in the 2025 NHL Draft, it appears that’s not enough to even break into the top 15. Then they give their breakout candidates for the 2026-27 season, including Nick Robertson, Declan Carlie, and others. (13:15) Finally, the Penguins released their 2026-27 fan giveaway schedule, highlighting some of the best promotions they’re offering this season! (23:00) Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Odoo Great organizations win because operations matter. And that’s why you should get Odoo. Try for free today at https://Odoo.com/lockedon. IndeedNow, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to https://indeed.com/podcastright now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Join all the action at https://FANDUEL.COMto play Daily Dingers and make your free pick on who’s hitting a homer this MLB season. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today on the Tuesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. To defend the honor of Penguin's second year forward, Ben Kindle, who has been relentlessly disrespected this summer. We will get into that and more right after this. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome in to the Tuesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts, Patrick Damp. You can find me on most social media platforms at Synonym 4Wet. Joined as always by the one and only my partner in crime, Hunter Hodes.

You can find him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can also follow our show on Twitter at LO underscore Penguins. You can also find us on TikTok at Locked-on Penguins. Also make sure you are subscribed across all audio and video platforms. That way you'll be among the first to know when we drop our episodes. Before we get started, today's episode is brought to you by Fandul. Join all the action at Fandul.com to play Daily Dinger's and make your free pick on who's hitting a homer this MLB season. A couple of things off of the top before we dive in.

First, this is our last week of three shows per week. We go back to Dailies starting next week, but there will be a little bit of a wrinkle. We will be off once again on Monday, but then Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, we are back to Dailies. And then the week after that, for quite a while, we will be back to five shows a week. For this week, we're recording today, which is Tuesday. we will be back on Thursday and Friday. Now you know the whole schedule. So here's what we're going to talk about today.

We know what a great season Ben Kindle had last year. Who is going to be this year's Ben Kindle or breakout candidate? We'll get into more about that in the second segment. And we'll finish the show with the small news of the day. The Penguins have announced their giveaways inside PPG paints arena for this upcoming season. but to start. Once again, we have to address a Corey Pranman article. This time, he decided to do a redraft of the 2025 NHL entry draft,

and the Penguins pick at 11th overall, Benjamin Kindle, was ranked 19th. Now, this is going to be the kind of episode, Hunter, where the two of us blend and blur the lines a little bit between analysts and people who cover the team and straight up fans. Because I understand, I'm going to start it here. I understand wanting to be cautious about prospects. I have said that on the show before because there is a long list of players who

burst onto the scene, have an incredible rookie season, and then you never really hear from them again. Or they just kind of become an average role player, carve out a nice career, career and that's about the end of it. I don't know which way Ben Kindle's career is going to go. He could continue to build off of a great rookie season. He could fade into oblivion over the next couple of years, though I'm skeptical of that. The thing that I can't understand is that among people like Prondman and others, they seem to be denying the evidence right in front of their eyes. Ben Kindle was the Penguin's third line center as a 19-year-old on a team that

surprised everybody and made the playoffs. So I can't figure out why people are so hesitant to say Ben Kindle is a pretty damn good hockey player at this moment. Yeah, I don't really understand it either. And Heck Pat, he made the team as an 18 year old and then turned 19 during the season. So that's another thing with that. And I just don't get how you're sliding him down in that article to 19 and you're moving up players who literally have not even played in the NHL yet. I don't want to spend too much time on it just because I know what this is. It's a bit. It's being a contrarian for the sake of being

contrarian. You're trying to be different. But in the end, it just kind of makes you look like an idiot, and I hate that type of sports talk, commentary, analysis. I hate it for any sport. I just think it's absolute garbage. It's not what I'm here for. There was this other tweet as well, and I want to get to this too, because

this comes from Charlie Borges Jr. He works for the fan a couple other places, and he tweets, Kindle is still in the top 20 and classified as a middle of the lineup player. Penguins fans are losing their mind that he isn't ranked with Matthew Schaefer as a generational talent. He isn't Crosby Penguins fans. First off, when has anyone ever compared Ben Kindle to Matthew Schaefer, who is a generational defenseman already for the New York Islanders?

And I even responded that. No Penguins fan has ever, and I mean ever compared Kindle to Matthew Schaefer. So please, enough of that very super. Stupid talking point. Ben Kindle was one of the top rookies in the NHL last season. Point blank. He 100% deserved to move up there. But at the end of the day, I'm not going to let it, you know, worry too much because I think

the proof is going to do the talking. And I think he is going to have another good year this year. I think he's going to be the third line center. Once again, he's going to get a few more reps at second line center as well. And I think there's a world where he is going to score 20 plus goals and maybe finish with around 45 plus points, maybe even around 50 if he continues to develop really well. I just think at the end of the day, the proof and the evidence, that's going to do the talking. That's where I am, too.

And here's how I kind of want to use the old saying here and split the baby in half here is one, no one's talking about. We're not comparing him to Matthew Schaefer. No one. Matthew Schaefer is on the, on the trajectory to become one of, if not the best defenseman in the National Hockey League once Kail McCar gives up the mantle. I don't know if he will, but the way his rookie season went, he looks like that kind of player and he feels like he is on that track to be it.

So congratulations to us as Penguins fans. He's going to annoy us for a generation. So get ready for that. But the other thing that I will say is on one, hand, I can understand looking at the 2025 draft class and you see names like Michael Mesa, Porter Martone, Anton Frundel, Victor Eklin, and a couple others who over the next five to 10 years might end up being better than Ben Kindle. They might end up being top of the lineup players. They might end up being cornerstones of a franchise in a way. I know that we got a little bit

annoyed because of the rivalry, but Martone is that dude. If he builds off of what he did at the end of the season and into the playoffs, that is going to be a guy who's pretty damn good in the Flyers top six for a long time. But here's the other side of it.

You look at the 2025 NHL entry draft. There were four players who played double digit games. Anton Frundel got 12 with the Blackhawks, Mesa got 45 with the Sharks, Kindle got 77 with us here in Pittsburgh, and Schaefer played all 82.

Schaefer led the way with 59 points. Kindle was behind him at 35. So again, there is a real world and a possibility that Ben Kindle had a great unexpected rookie season and he doesn't live up to it or just kind of stays at that level for the majority of his career. And in no world would that be bad. But the other side of it to me is this. he came in as an 18 year old and he played third line center for a good team.

If he had played on, even if he had just played on the Penguins, and last year went the way we expected it to in the preseason where they were in the McKenna sweep stakes, they sold off at the deadline, they finished near the bottom of the standings. I could even have heard the argument of, yeah, but he did it with no pressure on a bad team. it's not that impressive. Do it when he's contributing to a team that makes the playoffs. But that's what he did. So I'm just,

I'm genuinely confounded as to why, whether it's nationally or prospect people, look at Ben Kindle and just don't want to buy it. People are dumb at the end of the day. That's really what it comes down to. People are dumb and they want to be different for the sake of being different. I'm not even trying to overhype. Ben Kendall.

Like, we all know what he was last year. We all know what we think he is going to turn into throughout his career. No one is also saying that he's the next Crosby. That would be ridiculous. Literally, no one in the fandom, no one that covers the team is saying that. No one is saying that he is the next, you know, he should be ranked with Schaefer, I should say. We all know how great Schaefer was last year.

But for God's sakes, you know, he was one of two players from last year's draft class to score 15. goals in the NHL. The only other one was Matthew Schaefer. We don't need to be moving him down eight spots for the sake of it. I mean, I think it's just dumb. And this is where we can leave it and move on to more important things is even if you don't want to put him in the top five, I will hear that because there are a lot of players

in that draft, especially that were picked ahead of him and even some that were picked below him that I do think are going to go on to be more impactful for their respective franchises. But when you have the rookie season that he has, at the very least, I can move him up one spot to 10 and say he got picked 11th, but maybe he should have been picked 10th. And even then, I'd be like, yeah, that's fair. Because again, there are a lot of players who should be higher, but that's okay. But I think at the very least, at the very least, you can admit he is a top 10 player in this class. And here's the asterisk I'll put on it.

I'm not just trying to cover my ass for now. Maybe some guys develop better. Maybe some guys go on to have better careers. But as we sit here on August 25th, going into his sophomore year, he's solidly a top 10, if not top five pick from 2025. We'll see what happens in the future. but after the rookie year that he had, he is one of the better players from that draft class. But that is enough of Hunter and I getting all up in our feelings about these articles,

these tweets and these social media posts. And now it's time for us to look into our crystal ball and figure out who's it going to be next year, or this year, we should say, that is going to step up and have a surprising year in the 2026, 27 season. and we'll talk about that when we come back right after this. Locked on Penguins today, though, is brought to you by Fandall baseball fans. If you think you know who's going to hit a home run today, Fandall is giving you a free chance to call your shot with Daily Dingers. It's easy to play.

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looks like a pipe dream, but every time O'Neill Cruz steps into the box, you know there's a good chance. That guy might be sending one into the Allegheny River, and if you think he's your guy, you can make that prediction on Fandul. So if you're ready to play your game, join the action on fandul.com. That's Fandul.com to play daily dingers and make your free pick on who's hitting a homer. Play ball and swing for the fences with Fandul, an official partner of the M We're back here on the Tuesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm Patrick Damp. That's Hunter Hodes.

Ben Kindle, we just spent 10-ish minutes defending his honor because apparently nobody else wants to. So let's keep that conversation rolling in away, Hunter, here in our second segment. If you go all the way back to around this time of year last year, us two yokels were sitting here saying, and, ah, you know, Ben Kindle, they're going to send them back to junior. He's not quite ready to be a pro. And Ben Kindle said, hey, dummies, I'm the third line center. And he held on to that spot for pretty much the entire year. But at the risk of doing it again, I look at the Penguins draft class from 26 and I think,

probably not going to happen this year. I don't see one or both of the Ruck twins making it out of camp. and then beyond that, I'm very skeptical. Any of their later round picks are going to stick around. But I do think there is one very obvious candidate on the Penguins roster, young-ish player, I should say, because he does have a good bit of NHL experience to have a breakout season. And that is Nick Robertson.

I know that I put him in my, has a lot to lose by not performing this season category, when we did that last week, but he does seem to be getting better with each passing season. He's done better each year in Toronto. He got a solid contract here in Pittsburgh. And unlike in Toronto, and this is regardless of what's happening with the Maple Leafs right now, there is a world where guys could get moved, guys could underperform, Robertson could move up the lineup. And if he plays well, especially starting what we assume to be on, of line with our boy Ben Kindle, there are a lot of ingredients in place for Robertson to have a big

breakout year. I like that. You know, his goal total has gone up in each of the last three seasons. There's a chance he could potentially score 20 this year if the fit is really good. And if he potentially fits well on the third line with Ben Kindle and potentially Andre Kuzmanko, that's kind of the combination that I'm looking at for the third line. So I like that pick. For me, I'm going to start out with Declan Carlisle, who the Penguin signed in free agency. Played just over half the season this past year. Before that, he had only played in four combined games

during the 23, 24 season, the 24-25 season. You know, played a little over 5-160 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time. When he was on the ice, the lightning had a plus-4 goal differential, 52% of the scoring chance share, 50% of the high-danger chance share, plus 4 in high-danger goals 4. I think this is someone who could definitely step into a top-six, role and be consistent throughout the season for the Penguins. We just saw them do it.

You know, someone like Parker Watherspoon this past season, Carlisle, you know, still relatively young. So I could really see him, you know, growing, maturing into a role, whether it's the third pair or maybe they even put him on the second pair, for example. But I think he has the potential to really break out here, the Penguins, especially if he has a solid partner right now. Maybe that's Canaan Korsak. maybe it's Chrysletang. We have to see how the pairings shake out during training camp,

which is now less than a month away. We're getting really close to that happening. The season is basically just about a month away from starting as well. So really exciting times here. But that's one of the first players that really comes to mind to me is Declan Carlisle, especially after the way they talked about him. They've been tracking him for the last couple of years. They see him as a player that could really help the defense this year into the future. So that's someone who I'm looking at. And if you want to talk like a, you know, a Ben Kindle-type breakout, Pat. I guess you can probably say Sergey Marischoff,

but again, let's see what happens here, has to make the team. Then once he probably does make the team, which I expect, you know, how does he do full-time in the NHL? You know, he's a goalie. That's just, that's a reality of situation. He's a goalie.

Sometimes, you know, we all know where that's going. But again, that's really two players right there where I'd say, okay, breakout, Declan Carlisle, but, you know, similar to Kindle, Sergey Maroschav just because of how much hype there is around him, how much talent he has. But again, he's got to go out there and prove it. Right. And you kind of hit on something that I was going to also get into in this segment, which is both Carlisle and Corsack.

I look at both of them. And obviously, as I said at the top, there's, it's highly unlikely there's going to be another Kindle this year because the Penguins picked much later. They also, I have a feeling that they are going to give the Ruck Twins the Sadiin treatment where they're just going to be a package deal wherever they go, whether it's Florida, Wilkes Bear, Pittsburgh. They're going to keep them together because they do work really well together. I'm extremely skeptical that they're going to have the same kind of career that the Sadiens did. But I do think that they sit there as kind of a package deal. I don't see one or one or the other coming up. But I look at Carlisle and Corsac and I think about it kind of in the way you brought up is the

penguins have been tracking these guys for a couple of years. This is part of what they've identified how they're going to do this rebuild is they're going to find those kind of players that get blocked elsewhere. They play well in sheltered minutes and appear like they're ready for a bit of a breakout out if given a more significant role. And I think that you look at the way those two have played over the past couple of years and you see where they have been, Vegas and Tampa respectively, there was not room for them to move up.

Those teams, both of them, east and west, are still very much near the top of the standings. They are contenders. They have their big pieces in place. and there's not going to be room for them to move up. You look at, I mean, we've talked about it all summer. You look at the Penguins defense. It's open season.

If your name isn't, if your name isn't Eric Carlson, there's a question mark around you this season. Because just pulling up the Penguins roster page on their website right now, Carlisle, Gerard, Carlson, Corsack, Latang, TVR. I mean, yeah, they went out and got TVR. But at the same time, if TVR doesn't, perform, who knows what happens with him. If Sam Gerard doesn't have a great year, he's a pending UFA, they probably won't

hesitate to move them if they can. And you look at the rest of it, whether it's Harrison Brunick, whether it's Owen Pickering, there are a lot of question marks around the defense. So not only do I put those two in my could have a breakout year category, they're in my, you probably should perform this year because the lanes could not. be more open for both of you. Yeah, I'm with you on that, and especially when it comes to the defense, that's probably the competition. Outside of the four group, that's the one that I'm really most excited to see what happens during camp, is that anyone able to step up. My dogs agree. They're

also barking at someone at the door right now, but that's one I'm really curious to see how it pans out. Do they cut Crystal Tang's minutes during the season, for example? Just Corsak, does he get into the second pair at some point during the season as well? I'm really curious to see what happens with both of those two. And I agree with that. And here's the last one. And I'm going to be very, very captain obvious on this one. It's a guy we've harped on quite a bit for the last couple weeks.

And this is less, he needs to have a breakout more. It's put up or shut up time. Be like covenant. You just signed an eight-year deal. Everybody's scratching their heads over it. We have been waiting for you to take the next step. the organization continues to say that he's doing the right things. They like him.

They're happy with what he's done this off season. They were very happy. And so were we with what he did with the baby penguins for the majority of the season and then into their playoff run. But now you did it at the HL level. You have clearly dedicated yourself to getting better. Now it's time for you to become a consistent NHL player. We've been saying that a lot this offseason, so I feel like if I added that, we'll just keep repeating ourselves.

But yeah, big year for him, sign that big contract. Let's see if he can make this team, and let's see if he can really, you know, by all indications, it looks like he's had a good summer. Okay, does that translate to on the ice? Time will tell. But I feel like we've talked that to death for a lot of this past month. So let's get on to some goodies here. Some of these giveaways are pretty cool during the season. Yeah. So if you're going to see any of those breakout candidates, there's quite a few games where when you walk through the gates, scan your cell phone on the ticket reader.

Usher's going to hand you a little something. Penguins released their giveaway schedule for the upcoming season. We are going to quickly touch on that when we come back right after this. We're finishing up the Tuesday edition of Locked on Penguins. I'm Patrick Damp. That's Hunter Hodes. And you know, hockey season is getting ever. closer when you get the tweet, the email, the Instagram post, wherever you follow the team, and they tell you if you're looking to buy single game tickets, here's the giveaway calendar. And we're not going to go through the whole thing because there are, there's a lot of them this year. There are a lot of giveaways for the penguins this year. Obviously, we've got the staple that happens every year. Saturday, October 3rd against the Habs first home game, the magnet schedule giveaway.

That way you can plop it right there on the fridge, on your desk, on your cabinet, wherever, so you know when every game is. Here's the one hunter. There's two of them, I should say, not just one. There are two of them that I want to, I might have to hit up game time after this episode and go get tickets for them.

Saturday, December 5th, against the New Jersey Devils, the Mike Lang catchphrase alarm clock. I need that. I've slept, I actually slept through an alarm this past weekend before work. So I might need that to wake me up. I'm going to need Mike Lang to get in the fat,

tell me to get in the fast lane because I got to get up for work. That's like an easy one to go get. Like if you are thinking of getting tickets for games for some of these giveaways, go get that one. That feels like a slam dunk to me. And then this one, because I want to know, what it's going to be.

I want to know what's going to happen with it. Saturday, January 23rd against the Vancouver Canucks, first 7,500 fans through the door get an of Genie Malkin talking bobblehead. What genoisms are we putting on this bobblehead, Hunter? That's what I want to know.

Like, I feel like it's got to be something, you know, that he said to Phil Kessel. the Dana Hinesy video, for example, Pat, that would be hilarious if they somehow put something. So where's my logo? Just something like that. Those are two that come to mind right away. But, you know, I'm curious to see what they do.

Bingo, obviously, I feel like that has to be on there. So those are just a few that come to mind for me, Pat. Bingo should be on there. I am score has to be on there. But I'm so curious to find out what it is going to say when you get that bobblehead. And then there's another Evgeny Malkin giveaway, February 28th against the Rangers, the Evgeny Malkin coffee table book. So obviously we don't want to take or read too much into fan giveaways.

but the fact that we've got two ofgeny malcon fan giveaways this year kind of feels like this might be the farewell tour for avgeny malkin and pat in terms of bobbleheads only one and it's fgeny malkin i'm not i'm not trying to read you know too much into it but it does kind of give the feeling that this is really going to be it for Evgeny Malkin this year. You can also get your own 2017 championship ring on the 31st of January against the Philadelphia Flyers. All fans get that when they come in. You can get the, you can get a new kitchen apron, Pat, for the pre- Thanksgiving showdown

against the Calgary Flames. I mean, maybe I'll go to that one and get my, get a new kitchen apron. I think that'd be pretty cool, honestly. Have that, have that one sitting in the closet for when you're getting the family over for Thanksgiving, your cooking Thanksgiving dinner. You have your penguin's kitchen apron, that'd be a good one. Get your own 60th anniversary poster. You can put it in your room. We can put it in your office.

That's all pretty cool too. So pretty solid stuff here. We didn't get into all of them, but a lot of these are pretty solid to me. Yeah. This is going, this is a, this is how you know, and I say this with all the love in my heart. This is how you know that the penguins, they're not, they're not really contenders for right now because a lot of giveaways, a lot of theme nights. You got to get people into the building.

You know us hardcores are going to be there. You know, you and I are going to be watching every game. You know, our listeners are going to be watching and going to as many games as possible. But when you're trying to get those casuals in the door, you've got to have your giveaways for all of the fans. I got one more. This is a Penguins game against the Blues, but it's in St. Louis. On December 2nd, the Penguins will be in St. Louis.

First 10,000 fans inside the Enterprise Center get an exclusive Ozzy Osborne bobblehead because he wore the blue jersey excuse me um i might have to fly out to st louis go to that game and bring me back the ozies osborne bobblehead yeah if you're looking if if you're looking for hunter hoodies on that day there's a good chance he's in st louis because that's that's that could not be more up hunter's alley than that one but yeah a lot of good giveaways for the penguins this year you can find that on their website. And then don't forget to use our pals at game time when you're looking to get some tickets to those games. But that is going to do it for the Tuesday edition of Locked-on Penguins.

As I said off the top, Hunter and I will be back with a brand new episode for you on Thursday, going over any other news or any other things we want to get you set for this upcoming season. And then, of course, as it always does, we will be back on Friday with Fan Take Friday. For now, for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you, as always, for tuning in. We will talk to you again on Thursday.