\u201cIt was awesome,\u201d Kindel told Josh Getzoff in the latest episode of Get Me the Brandy. \u201cIt\u2019s been a whirlwind since the draft and development camp. Just really happy just to be able to make the team and get to know the organization, get to know all the guys, and have that opportunity to play a full season with the Penguins.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, what sparked that belief in Kindel?<\/p>\n
Clark actually met the Vancouver native before any of the scouts did, at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, which takes place in August. They were staying at the same hotel and ended up riding an elevator together, where Clark introduced himself.<\/p>\n
After watching Kindel win gold with Canada at that tournament, Clark ended up catching one of his games early in the season, with his Calgary Hitmen playing the Swift Current Broncos. While Kindel wasn\u2019t the reason Clark was there, \u201cthat\u2019s where Ben initially popped off the page for myself,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
From there, Clark and the two Penguins amateur scouts based out West \u2013 Dan McLean and Robbie Sandland \u2013 began focusing on Kindel. His hockey IQ is what jumped out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first time I actually started keying in on Ben, there were a number of sequences throughout that game where his spatial awareness and quickness in his decision-making really stood out,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n
While the area scouts are in charge of doing due diligence on prospects, there are a select few players that Clark will take personal interest in, doing his best to get to know them to help the decision-making process. Kindel was one of them, though he wasn\u2019t fully aware of it at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, you always hear from different people, or your agents sometimes, who would be a little bit more interested. I think you\u2019re never sure with the draft,\u201d Kindel told Getzoff. \u201cThere’s so much uncertainty. I had a feeling the Penguins were somewhat interested, but you can never be so sure. Teams are trying to get leverage on other teams and all that kind of stuff. You just kind of got to go into draft day just enjoying it, and whatever happens, happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
And when Kris Letang and his son Alex announced that the Penguins had made Kindel their first pick of the draft, while there was some confused chatter amongst the hockey media and analysts, the feeling inside Pittsburgh\u2019s headquarters was much different.<\/p>\n
\u201cExcited, intrigued,\u201d Clark said. \u201cHappy for him, happy for the Penguins. Like any player we select, I felt inside that he had a real chance, right from rookie tournament into training camp. Genuinely really excited for him and for the organization, thinking that we were able to get a real good player and person into the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt was awesome,\u201d Kindel told Josh Getzoff in the latest episode of Get Me the Brandy. \u201cIt\u2019s been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-713178","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\/713178","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=713178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}