Cup of Joe: Starkey on sports in 400 words or less
This Cup of Joe was headed one of two ways, after a wild Thursday in local sports: It was either going to focus on Oneil Cruz going full Kaleb Johnson in center field or praise Ben Kindel for his astonishing poise in maybe the Penguins’ biggest moment of the season.
I decided on the latter.
If Cruz still hasn’t learned the basics of his position, I’d think about trading him and putting Konnor Griffin in center field when he gets here, but that is a Cup of Joe for another day.
Let us behold the wunder-Kindel. Can you believe this guy? He’s 18. He looks like he’s 10. But there he was, hand-chosen by his coach as the third shooter in another dreaded shootout, with the Sidney Crosby-less Penguins desperately needing the extra point.
As the baby-faced assassin skated in on goalie Linus Ullmark, play-by-play man Josh Getzoff wondered, “Could Ben Kindel have his signature moment?”
Yes, he could. Kindel beat Ullmark five-hole and pumped his fist like a madman, prompting a wild celebration on the ice and nearly causing the ole 29er to fall out of the booth.
“Get off your La-Z-Boy! Get off your couch! Dance on the coffee table!” Phil Bourque exclaimed. “You gotta love this hockey team!”
Especially with a kid like Kindel. All he does is continue to prove he is one of the greatest first-round picks in Penguins history.
You or I could have picked Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury, Jordan Staal, Mario Lemieux or Jaromir Jagr, even if Malkin and Jagr were not sure bets to extricate themselves from their homelands. Those were all obvious top-five picks.
But what about first-round picks outside the top 10? The Penguins don’t have a stellar history there, but the likes of Ryan Whitney, Martin Straka, Olli Maatta, Bob Errey, Markus Naslund and Brooks Orpik spring to mind.
Straka had 30 goals in his second season before he was traded, later returning to become an excellent player. Naslund did not flourish until he was traded to Vancouver.
None of those players were this good, this soon.
The “X” site “NHL Muse” recently posted a list of “most goals by an 18-year-old player in Pittsburgh Penguins history.” (We should note that the great Pierre Larouche was phenomenal at 18 but turned 19 in November of his rookie year, thus pegging that as his age-19 season). This is the list:
39 — Sidney Crosby
29 — Jordan Staal
18 — Jaromir Jagr
17 — Ben Kindel
President of hockey operations Kyle Dubas gets the credit, because he hired Wes Clark as vice president of player personnel back in July of 2024, and Clark took the home-run swing on Kindel at No. 11. He obviously spotted the high hockey IQ, the immense skill and the preternatural poise that other teams missed.
Kindel already is the Penguins’ best first-round pick in 20 years, since Staal. He’s also the only forward taken in the 2025 draft who has made a huge impact, with 17 goals and 32 points in 68 games.
And one massive shootout goal in Ottawa.