How Macklin Celebrini helped this Pittsburgh Penguins rookie make the NHL

SAN JOSE Pittsburgh Penguins rookie Ben Kindel had an opportunity this summer to skate and practice with among others fellow centers Macklin Celebrini of the San Jose Sharks and Connor Bedard of the Chicago Blackhawks That work on the ice and his conversations with them off of it boosted Kindel s confidence and perhaps played a small role in helping him crack the Penguins roster to start the regular season It was a great experience getting to train with chosen very high-level NHL players Kindel explained Bay Area News Group at SAP Center So I think it really helped prepare me coming into my first training camp getting to skate with those guys It was a great training atmosphere Kindel took that experience into the Penguins training camp and he had a goal and two assists in six preseason games Saturday Kindel who was drafted th overall in June will play in his fifth NHL meeting as the Penguins face the still-winless Sharks at SAP Center to close their California swing Kindel scored his first NHL goal on Oct against the New York Rangers and has so far averaged in ice time per championship Bedard now won the Calder Trophy as the NHL s best rookie after the - season when he had points in games Celebrini was third in Calder voting last season when he led the Sharks with points in games Not every -year-old who comes into the NHL can put up those kinds of numbers and there s no guarantee Kindel will be with the Penguins all season But seeing players around his age from the Metro Vancouver area make their mark in the league so briskly was a source of inspiration for Kindel Just hearing them talk I mean they re both young players who ve gone through it in recent weeks revealed Kindel a native of Coquitlam British Columbia So I think I just took a lot of what they were doing what they were saying into my training camp There s been a lot of elite players that have made it at from Vancouver so it gives me a lot of examples and a lot of confidence that guys that have done it before even a guy like Zach Benson who was a later pick I trained with him Kindel commented of the Buffalo Sabres forward who is from Chilliwack B C But obviously Mack and Connor did it on a very high level in their first year So it helped build confidence for sure Kindel remembers playing against Celebrini in minor hockey in the Vancouver area as a young kid but didn t really get to know him until this summer He was consistently a very high-end athlete a very hard worker Kindel mentioned of Celebrini You kind of knew he was a special player right from when he was at a young age PLANS FOR THE KIDS Like the Sharks the Penguins have multiple teenagers on the roster with Kindel and -year-old defenseman Harrison Brunicke Both players Penguins coach Dan Muse noted have earned the right to stay with the big club at least for now Related Articles Yaroslav Askarov can be great but his Sharks teammates need to shape up first Another goalie puck-handling gaffe costly as Sharks remain winless on season How to watch the San Jose Sharks-Utah Mammoth event Sharks update Another defenseman injured first schedule quirk arrives Gushchin agreement tree grows Sharks place one defenseman on IR claim another off waivers from Capitals The Sharks have their own plan for center Michael Misa and defenseman Sam Dickinson who could be teammates with Kindel on Canada s roster at the IIHF World Junior championships in Minnesota in December What s the Penguins plan for Kindel and Brunicke I think it goes back to the preseason Muse mentioned We did put a lot on their plate and they continued to show that they could handle it They ve earned opportunities to be in certain situations that we sought to see how they d handle They ve handled them well In terms of the plan we are factoring in things specific to their age and to their necessities so that they re able to have success now but also setting them up for success in the future And so there have been a lot of internal conversations as an organization about what s going to be best for them