Wide Changes for Goalie; Top Pick Wants Challenge

It’s been a short summer for the Pittsburgh Penguins prospects.

Many of the Penguins’ prospects going to the Prospects Challenge in Buffalo over the next three days were drafted in late June, attended development camp in early July, and are back in Pittsburgh eight weeks later.

The Penguins’ rookie team begins the Prospects Challenge today at 3 p.m. at the LECOM Harborcenter (the Penguins will stream the games on their website). They’ll also play Sunday and Monday before beginning training camp next week.

After the thrill of being drafted, there hasn’t been a lot of time for the newbies to digest or decompress. Penguins’ top pick in the 2025 NHL Draft was Ben Kindel, selected 11th overall, and he’s been on the ice all summer.

But with the high pick comes expectations and responsibility. In Kindel’s case, the tournament will also be his first competitive opportunity with the Penguins, which isn’t lost on him.

“I kind of view it as a test for myself personally and just kind of see how I can compare against all these other top prospects and also use it as an extra development going into the training camp for the Penguins,” said Kindel.

The Challenge could be his showcase as the new top dog in the Penguins’ prospect pipeline. He did have 99 points last season with 35 goals for the Calgary Hitmen.

Winger Rutger McGroarty won’t be healthy enough to play in the tournament–the Penguins will update his status before training camp next week–but fellow rookie winger Ville Koivunen will be on the team.

“I think it was a big summer (for me), just working in the gym and on the ice with my skating coach and skills coaches, and just kind of doing whatever I can to develop my game and get ready for training camp.

Koivunen showed he could play well with Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. There seems to be a good chance that Kindel gets some time with Koivunen in the tournament, and it will be a good exposition of Kindel’s progress.

Gabriel D’Aigle

What happens when you take a 6-foot-4 goalie who is raw, but kept his undermanned team in many games last season, and make him bigger?

That’s what the Penguins are doing with one of their three third-round picks, Gabriel D’Aigle. Penguins director of goaltending, Jon Elkin, has begun working with D’Aigle to refine his game.

D’Aigle is 6-foot-4, 211 pounds, and moves well. The combination of size and athleticism makes him a tantalizing prospect. He already covers a lot of net, but Elkin made one tweak this summer.

“They want to change my stance,” D’Aigle said. “Like, okay, put my arms wide–wider. And I think it’s a big game changer for like. (That) was the only thing.”

D’Aigle and top Penguins goalie prospect Sergei Murashov are the goalies on the prospect team, so D’Aigle figures to get at least one full game in the tournament, though he hasn’t yet gotten any feedback on how much more net he covers with the wider stance.

Last season, D’Aigle was on a terrible Victoriaville Tigres team. He candidly admitted to PHN in July that his team’s fate often rested on his performance. He posted a 16-33-2 record with an .883 save percentage.

Those aren’t exactly numbers that would have scouts flocking to the barn, but the netminder who shares a hometown and has trained with Marc-Andre Fleury also shares Fleury’s simple outlook on the game.

“I (will) just try to do my best. And hope that things are going well (in the tournament),” D’Aigle told us.

The Penguins have done very well in the tournament over the last couple of seasons. It’s been a showcase for prospects such as Tristan Broz, Murashov, and Owen Pickering. All three are on the team again, though their participation is as much about keeping the group together as it is about making sure the team is talented.

Now, two more top prospects will join the fold, and we’ll begin to see the results of the Penguins’ revamped player development department under general manager Kyle Dubas and vice president of player personnel, Wes Clark.

After a couple of months of work, it’s finally game on.

Tags: ben kindel gabriel d’aigle Penguins Prospects Pittsburgh Penguins