If anyone has been keeping tabs on the Pittsburgh Penguins this season, they are well-aware of the fact that the notoriously aged team has been icing two teenagers since the beginning of the season.
And - for one of them - a big decision must be made in the coming days.
18-year-old forward Ben Kindel - selected 11th overall by the Penguins this season - has played in nine games this season, registering two goals as the team's third-line center. Most people - both fans and those in the Penguins' organization - didn't expect Kindel to show so much so quickly, let alone crack the NHL roster out of training camp.
But the 5-foot-11, 182-pound forward has far exceeded expectations, and he doesn't look a step behind at the NHL level. The kid looks like he belongs.
The trouble is, his nine-game "tryout" is officially over. Once Kindel hits the 10-game mark, the first year of his three-year entry-level contract would kick in. And this means that the Penguins must make a decision before Kindel plays another NHL game on whether or not they will send him back to his junior team, the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL.
As per the current AHL-CHL transfer rules, juniors-eligible CHL players below the age of 20 are ineligible for the AHL. This means Kindel will either need to play with the Penguins or with the Hitmen this season. And, once Kindel is sent back to the Hitmen, he would be ineligible to return to the NHL until the conclusion of his junior season.
That permanence is what makes the decision so hard for Penguins' brass when it comes to Kindel - and fellow teenage rookie Harrison Brunicke, who is 19 years old - being sent back to Calgary, where he could very well have a dominant WHL season. But since he has shown readiness - and he's helping the Penguins win hockey games right now - it'd be tough to send him back.
The Penguins will take on the Minnesota Wild on Thursday, and it remains to be seen whether or not Kindel will be in the lineup. He and Brunicke are both on "development plans" laid out by Penguins' management and the coaching staff, and they could delay the decision a bit by holding him out.
But, if Kindel is in Thursday, he's in Pittsburgh to stay - at least, for now. And it would show that the Penguins truly aren't married to any preconvceived plans about their young players and are willing to reward youngsters for their performance.
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