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

Pittsburgh Penguins center Ben Kindel is now considered week-to-week due to a lower-body injury, according to an update provided Thursday by Amanda Kessel, the team's manager of minor league operations and AHL assistant general manager. Kindel, who was initially classified as day-to-day, sustained the injury during Monday's 7-4 preseason win over the Buffalo Sabres and is now expected to miss the start of the regular season while undergoing further testing.

Kindel had been skating on Pittsburgh's projected third line alongside Bryan Rust and Andrei Kuzmenko prior to the setback. Selected 11th overall in the 2025 NHL Draft, Kindel is coming off a rookie campaign in which he recorded 17 goals and 18 assists for 35 points in 77 games.