Penguins’ Ben Kindel’s lower-body injury ‘looking more week-to-week’

The Pittsburgh Penguins have provided an update on the status of center Ben Kindel’s lower-body injury, with it appearing to be worse than initially thought.

Penguins’ manager of minor league operations and AHL assistant general manager Amanda Kessel gave the update to the Pittsburgh media on Thursday ahead of their preseason game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, saying that Kindel’s injury has now developed to a week-to-week timeline, although he was undergoing further testing so more updates may be coming soon.

Kindel sustained the injury during Monday’s 7-4 win over the Buffalo Sabres. 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.

Kindel had initially been announced as day-to-day with the injury with the possibility of returning for the start of the regular season. However, with recent developments, it appears that he will miss the start of the regular season, although how much is still not yet known.

Kindel played the game on a line with Bryan Rust and Andrei Kuzmenko, which was projected to be the Penguins’ third line to start the season. However, with Kindel’s injury, Pittsburgh will need to find a replacement for the time being, although what the lineup will look like now won’t be known until further game action.

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.