Ben Kindel isn\u2019t and won\u2019t be the player that Sidney Crosby is.<\/p>\n
But in some ways, Kindel is Crosby\u2019s heir.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s incredibly serious for a 19-year-old. (Just turned.)<\/p>\n
He sits next to Crosby in the dressing room, absorbing like a sponge.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s known for watching video, constantly being on the job.<\/p>\n
After he iced the puck and lost the draw that led to host Philadelphia\u2019s playoff series-ending overtime goal this past Wednesday, two days later Kindel faced the media:<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m still kind of sick to my stomach thinking about that last shift and how the season ended. Nothing I can do about it now but use it as motivation in the future to do whatever we can to not let it end like that again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kindel is accountable.<\/p>\n
Kindel will be the Penguins\u2019 captain someday.<\/p>\n
His skills are evident.<\/p>\n
Skeptics thought Kindel was a reach at the 11th pick in the first round of last year\u2019s NHL Draft.<\/p>\n
But the Penguins had him ranked in the draft\u2019s top four. Kindel making the NHL at 18 stopped being a shock after maybe a month. He belongs.<\/p>\n
To some degree, Kindel\u2019s season got skewed.<\/p>\n
The young center was supposed to be scratched occasionally to help him cope with the merciless grind of the NHL.<\/p>\n
But priorities changed when the Penguins started 8-2-2. All hands on deck. Kindel played 77 games plus six playoff contests.<\/p>\n
Kindel is listed at 5-foot-11, 182 pounds. But he appeared about 15 pounds lighter by season\u2019s end. After late-season games, he looked like he\u2019d been through a wringer.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s no insult. Kindel leaves it all out there.<\/p>\n
Kindel is far from massive but has hockey strength. (Not sure what that is, but everybody says he\u2019s got it.)<\/p>\n
His work ethic will make him bigger, stronger and everything else.<\/p>\n
Not that Kindel will be a superstar.<\/p>\n
His ceiling is probably being a very good No. 2 center.<\/p>\n
His point totals will be boosted by his power-play skills, which are considerable.<\/p>\n
Kindel should have been on the top man-advantage unit all season and absolutely must be come next campaign. He might have the team\u2019s highest power-play acumen. The power play should run through him. Make Kindel the reset point on the left half-wall. He\u2019s brilliant at organically clearing space.<\/p>\n
Kindel plays 200 feet. His vision, passing skills and hockey IQ are exceptional. He battles but is composed. Has a sneaky shot. His skating could improve, but it will.<\/p>\n
Kindel had 17 goals and 18 assists. He had the ninth-most points among NHL rookies but was the second-youngest player in the league.<\/p>\n
Kindel will get good stats.<\/p>\n
But he won\u2019t be a stats guy.<\/p>\n
Kindel plays winning hockey and has enough tangibles to make his intangibles count.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ben Kindel isn\u2019t and won\u2019t be the player that Sidney Crosby is. But in some ways, Kindel is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-620169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}