The general reactions to a pair of players powering the secondary scoring for the Pittsburgh Penguins was decidedly … negative.
Who? And not him!
Rookie Ben Kindel and the rehabbing veteran Anthony Mantha, with a checkered career on an incentive-laden deal after missing the vast majority of last season due to knee surgery, have formed the basis of a very workable third line.
Some stories just don’t have a negative side, and even the most fervent examinations produce only glowing analysis. As the Penguins climb ever closer to their near-shocking goal of breaking their three-year playoff drought, there just aren’t any drawbacks or holdbacks, but plenty of comment take-backs for the team’s odd couple of Mantha and Kindel.
In 53 games, Kindel has 27 points (13-14-27) and was rapidly adding to his totals before the Olympic break. Mantha, who will be an unrestricted free agent after the season, has 20 goals, 22 assists in 56 games.
With the insertion of Egor Chinakhov into the Penguins’ lineup following the January acquisition from the Columbus Blue Jackets, and the subsequent line shuffles, the Penguins’ contrasting pair have largely remained together and continued to lift the bottom of the lineup with an offensive push from the third line that is unlike any in the last five years.
In fact, the Penguins’ third line has been a bit of a soft spot since (trigger warning) Derick Brassard rejected the job in 2018.
Unless you’d like to take the anti-numeric argument that guardians of the spot, Nick Bjugstad, Mark Jankowski, Jeff Carter, Lars Eller, and Kevin Hayes were more effective.
Perhaps Carter was, but only for a season, and it didn’t last.
Fans might also remember the names circled on an endless summer of 2025 mock drafts and trade chatter of moving up after the lottery ping pong balls rudely booted them down two spots. Would the Penguins select Roger McQueen, Victor Eklund, or Jackson Smith?
Yet when the moment arrived, the Penguins veered off the map.
When the Penguins’ braintrust submitted their first pick, 11th overall, for the 2025 NHL Draft, it was a name on no one’s lips and brought quite a bit of surprise and groans for the players not taken.
Kindel?!
Though Kindel, 18, listed at 5-foot-11, 182 pounds, he may have had a few pebbles in his pocket that day. Most of the external draftniks ranked him in the late teens to mid-20s. The Calgary Hitmen center was rated as a first-round talent, but certainly not 11th overall.
But that’s what general manager Kyle Dubas and vice president of player personnel Wes Clark do. They identify talent ranked later in the first or sometimes the second round. Fraser Minten, Matthew Knies, and Easton Cowan are recent examples who came through the Toronto ranks quickly, despite lower draft grades.
However, other teams were also onto Kindel. If the Penguins did not select him at 11, multiple sources have told Pittsburgh Hockey Now since draft day that the Detroit Red Wings were anxiously awaiting to select him at 13.
He looked small. A step slow. But his hockey brain showed through even when he physically looked far, very far, from ready during the Penguins’ rookie camp in July.
“I wasn’t impressed,” one organization source said recently.
But Kindel’s noted hockey brain kicked into high gear. And, so too, did his feet. The surprise pick has paid handsome dividends, earning a roster spot in training camp and excelling from the beginning of team activities in September.
“Yeah, I think a lot of (the game) is just having patience and kind of waiting for the game to come, not trying to force plays offensively, and when there’s a play to be made, then make it,” Kindel said. “But just try not to force things, and the scoring will come.”
He was quicker, more assertive, and very quickly showed that he belonged.
“I think you’ve seen it throughout the entire year, just the vision, the poise, the ability to know where options are, the ability to find space,” coach Dan Muse said. “You know, I think he’s been consistent with it. He’s had different line mates. We put him on the wing for a little bit. And I think you’ve seen that offensive sense and that skill set pretty consistently throughout the entire year.”
It hasn’t been entirely smooth sailing for Kindel. After a three-point game on Dec. 14, he hit a dry spell with one point in his next eight games, and 19 games between goals.
Of course, once Kindel broke free from his slump, he exploded for six goals in his last five games.
What separates Kindel from rookies, and especially most 18-year-old rookies, is his adaptability and continued growth. His ability to defend against the best in the world, when just a season ago he was battling WHL players, has kept him in the lineup. His ability to figure out the game in the offensive zone has elevated the Penguins’ lineup.
So, too, has Mantha’s game.
“For me personally, that was a goal: to hit 20 before the break,” said Mantha. “It’s easy to have a goal early in the year, but when you’re getting close and actually reach it, it’s something else. I’m playing really well, and I need to keep going.”
The Penguins’ 6-foot-5 winger needed only 55 games to reach the 20-goal plateau for the fourth time in his career, despite serious knee surgery just over one year ago.
“I think some of it is a little bit (that) he didn’t play a lot last year because of the injury, and he’s getting back up to speed. And so I think that plays a part. And I think he’s also showing strides on both sides of the puck,” Muse said. “For a guy his size, he’s been moving well lately. He’s just able to be a real threat, whether it’s off the rush or in THE zone. And he’s showing he can play either wing, and he’s a guy who has shown that he can kind of move in and play with some different guys and adapt pretty quickly.”
What has been unique about Mantha’s success this season is that he’s played with four centers, including Sidney Crosby, albeit briefly. He has managed to maintain his offensive pace with Kindel, Evgeni Malkin, and Tommy Novak.
When Pittsburgh Hockey Now was able to talk with Mantha about the process and progression in Buffalo, which was the final game before the Olympic break, he acknowledged that he might look faster. Still, he demurred when asked if his knee had continued to improve through the season.
“I just think it’s kind of how I’m playing the game. Maybe that’s a little change. You know, instead of being flat-footed, sometimes I try to keep some speed. Maybe right now–I don’t know, it’s maybe just (momentum),” Mantha said. “I think its more that (than my knee improving). So, it doesn’t look like I’m flat-footed. I’m trying to carry the puck a little bit more, trying to be a close option for my teammates. I think it just builds some momentum for my skating.”
In 128 minutes at 5v5, Kindel and Mantha have a positive 10-4 goal differential and a 63% expected goals for.
In 283 minutes, Mantha and Malkin (with Justin Brazeau, Novak and assorted other linemates), have a 16-12 goal advantage.
The unique stat was that with Malkin between Novak and Mantha, the line still had a 4-2 goal advantage despite being buried in the defensive zone with a 43% expected goals rate and 38% scoring chance rate.
Yet with Novak in the middle with Mantha and mostly Brazeau on the wing, the line has a positive 8-5 goal differential and a 51% expected goals rate. All stats according to Natural Stat Trick.
Two players at very different points in their careers: the 32-year-old big veteran with something to prove and the slight rookie with just a hint of edgy confidence unfazed by his first NHL go-round.
In 130 minutes together, they have a 10-5 goal differential, a 61% expected goal rate, and have 68% of the high-danger chances when they’re on the ice.
No, some stories just don’t have a downside.
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