Penguins’ Ben Kindel leaves preseason game with lower-body injury

The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced that center Ben Kindel has left Monday’s preseason game against the Buffalo Sabres due to a lower-body injury.

Kindel left after the first period of Monday’s game. It’s unclear what was the cause of the injury, but he did crash into the net earlier in the period, and was somewhat slow to get up. That said, he did play out the rest of the period, so it’s possible it was a different injury that removed him from the game.

At this point in time, there’s no word on the severity of Kindel’s injury. Considering that it’s a preseason game and he is expected to make the roster, it’s possible the Penguins pulled him from the game at the first sign of discomfort to avoid any further injury, especially since the stakes are nonexistent in a preseason game. We will likely get an update on Kindel after Monday’s game, or ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings.

Kindel finished the game with a shot, a blocked shot and had won six of his seven faceoffs in 6:13 of ice time, with the Penguins up 1-0 at the time of his departure.

Kindel played the period on a line with Bryan Rust and Andrei Kuzmenko, which projects to be the Penguins’ third line to start the season. The trio connected well before Kindel left with his injury, as they had a 93.24% 5v5 expected goal share in 3:46 together, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Kindel is looking to build off a strong rookie season, which saw him put up 17 goals and 18 assists for 35 points in 77 games. It was a surprising development, as many weren’t expecting him to crack the NHL right after going 11th overall in the 2025 NHL Draft, but he fit in right away.