With the Pittsburgh Penguins entering the offseason after a brief return to the postseason, TribLive will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 53 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until future seasons — with the organization.
Starting with veteran Noel Acciari and going on through to prospect Bill Zonnon, every player will be profiled in alphabetical order.
This series is scheduled to be published every day until June 24, two days before the start of the NHL Draft. In the event of a transaction, that schedule will be altered as necessary.
(Note: All contract information courtesy of Puckpedia.)
Peyton Kettles
Position: Defenseman
Shoots: Right
Age: 18
Height: 6-foot-6
Weight: 196 pounds
2025-26 WHL regular season statistics: Five games, three points (one goal, two assists)
Contract: Signed to a three-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $958,333. Pending unrestricted free agent in 2030
(This contract can slide – i.e., begin – to the 2027-28 season.)
Acquired: Second-round draft pick (No. 39 overall), June 28, 2025
This season: The Penguins entered the 2025 NHL Draft without a second-round selection. But they sprung into action in acquiring one when they found a player they liked.
As such, they dealt away defenseman Connor Timmins – who was well-regarded by management – and mid-level defensive prospect Isaac Belliveau to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for defenseman Connor Clifton – along with his unwanted contract – and the 39th overall selection.
With that pick, they selected Peyton Kettles, a massive defenseman who plays the part by being a physical, nasty presence on the blue line.
— EN Videos (@ENVideos19) July 10, 2025
But he was unable to display any of his attributes for most of the season due to injuries.
First, an undisclosed ailment limited him for all of the Penguins’ training camp to a handful of workouts with other injured teammates.
Once he recuperated from that malady, Kettles made his season debut at the junior level with the Western Hockey League’s Swift Current Broncos on Oct. 22 and had his best game of the campaign – admittedly, among few candidates for that designation – by collecting a goal and an assist in a 4-3 overtime loss at home to the Red Deer Rebels.
Peyton Kettles is so back ????@SCBroncos | @Penguinspic.twitter.com/lp9EDRRPx0
— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) October 23, 2025
A week later on Oct. 29, Kettles was traded to the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets, but things fizzled after three games when he suffered a right shoulder injury. By Nov. 21, Kettles underwent surgery and was lost for the rest of the regular season.
Three days after the procedure on his shoulder, Kettles signed his entry-level contract with the Penguins.
Last week, Kettles managed to salvage the very end of the season by suiting up for the Rockets in all three games the team played in during the Memorial Cup tournament. Over that trio of contests, Kettles did not record a point.
The future: Kettles will likely return to Kelowna for the 2026-27 season. Given his age (he turns 19 on Sept. 1) and how much downtime he had in 2025-26, he just isn’t an ideal candidate to turn professional at this juncture. He will be a long-term project.
When healthy, Kettles is a prototypical physical, shutdown defenseman who thrives on initiating contact.
(All five regular season games he appearedin this past season saw him record at least one penalty.)
That makes Kettles something of a rarity for the Penguins, who have largely preferred smaller, faster, offensively attuned defensemen on the blue line for the past decade. And the defensive-minded blue liners they’ve had have usually relied on fundamentals rather than brawn.
Perhaps the last defenseman the Penguins have employed who played like Kettles might have been the rugged Robert Bortuzzo in 2014-15.
Assuming he fully recovers, Kettles can offer a rare presence on the Penguins’ blue line.