Play center as an NHL rookie

Pittsburgh Penguins forward Ben Kindel finished a distant ninth in the 2026 Rookie of the Year voting, which is a bit of a snub in my opinion.

Kindel wasn’t as critical to his team as Calder winner Matthew Schaefer and didn’t put up as many points as Ivan Demidov or Beckett Sennecke.

However, what Kindel achieved in his first NHL season, playing center effectively as an 18 year old, was a rare and impressive feat.

Statistically, Kindel is already one of the NHL’s best at influencing his team’s shot volume.

On video, we see that Kindel is actually quite conservative with the puck, preferring to extend possessions rather than force high risk, high reward plays.

The principal way Kindel drives offense for PIT is by helping his team get the puck back. He does this thanks to lightning-quick defensive reads that allow him to switch swiftly between overload, man-on-man and zone defending.