Penguins' Ben Kindel could return to practice next week after medical episode on team plane

Ben Kindel could be back at Pittsburgh Penguins practice as early as Sunday or Monday, general manager Kyle Dubas said Thursday, two days after the 19-year-old forward lost consciousness on the team plane.

Dubas said Kindel had a vasovagal syncope, a fainting episode caused by a sudden fall in heart rate and blood pressure. Kindel was placed on injured reserve Thursday and will go through further testing. If that goes without complications, the team hopes he can resume training in about four days.

"Our hope is to get everything done, tested, back into training here in the next four days or so and see if he can return to practice on Sunday or Monday," Dubas said. "That's why I would put an asterisk on that by saying 'we'll see how everything goes before then.'"

Dubas said Kindel has no prior history of the condition and that the team will work to find out what triggered it. He described the forward as "very clearly shaken" when they met Thursday morning.

Kindel is likely to miss Thursday's home game against the Florida Panthers and Saturday's game against the Nashville Predators. He could return Oct. 29 at home against the Utah Mammoth.

The episode began about 10 minutes after the Penguins' flight left Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Oct. 20. The team's physician and medical staff attended to Kindel, who was given oxygen, and the plane returned to Salt Lake City International Airport. An ambulance took him to the University of Utah Hospital for evaluation, and he was cleared to travel to Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

Kindel played 18:53 in Monday's 5-4 loss at Utah and has two goals and two assists in nine games this season, his second with Pittsburgh. The Penguins selected him 11th overall in the 2025 NHL Draft.