Penguins Say Kindel's Flight Collapse Was a Vasovagal Episode

Update, October 22: Penguins GM Kyle Dubas said Thursday that Kindel’s episode was a vasovagal episode. Kindel has been released from hospital, is back in Pittsburgh, and has been placed on injured reserve with no timetable. The new sections below carry the update.

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ flight home on Tuesday lasted only a few minutes. Shortly after the team plane took off from Salt Lake City International Airport, it turned back and landed, because forward Ben Kindel had a medical episode on board. The club announced the return in a statement on Tuesday afternoon and said Kindel is conscious, alert and in stable condition at University of Utah Hospital.

What happened on the flight?

The Penguins were leaving Utah at the end of a four-game road trip. According to the club’s statement, team physician Dr. Dharmesh Vyas of UPMC and the team’s medical staff were on board and attended to Kindel immediately. The plane returned to Salt Lake City International Airport, an ambulance was waiting when it arrived, and Kindel was taken to University of Utah Hospital for further evaluation. The Associated Press report carried by TSN describes the same sequence, as does theScore’s account. No account published on Tuesday adds detail beyond the club’s statement, and this article adds none.

What has the club said since Tuesday?

The club has now named the cause. On Thursday morning in Cranberry, general manager Kyle Dubas said Kindel collapsed shortly after takeoff in what has been diagnosed as a vasovagal episode, The Hockey News reports. Kindel was given oxygen on board, regained consciousness, and the plane returned to Salt Lake City, where an ambulance took him to University of Utah Hospital. Assistant coach Nick Bonino, assistant general manager Jason Spezza, team physician Dr. Dharmesh Vyas and director of performance Rich Rotenberg stayed with him in Utah. He was released from hospital and the group flew back to Pittsburgh on Wednesday. He is now back at the team facility for further testing.

Daily Faceoff’s report of the same press availability records Dubas’s plan in his own words: increased testing and medical clearance, then a return to training and a return to practice, with updates to follow. Dubas also cautioned reporters about coverage of the episode, after rumors of a seizure circulated online following the club’s first statement. The diagnosis the club has put on record is a vasovagal episode. This page did not report the seizure rumor while it was unconfirmed, and it records it now only because the general manager addressed it himself.

What is a vasovagal episode?

It is a faint with a mechanism. The Mayo Clinic description both outlets cite says a vasovagal episode happens when a trigger makes the heart rate and blood pressure drop suddenly, cutting blood flow to the brain and causing a brief loss of consciousness. The Hockey News adds the Mayo Clinic context that the episodes are fairly common and typically have no distinct underlying cause. That context is general medical information, not a finding about Kindel. The club has not named a trigger in his case, and further testing is exactly the step Dubas described, which is why the testing comes before any return to training.

Is Kindel on injured reserve, and when does he play again?

Yes, and nobody knows when he plays again. The Penguins placed him on injured reserve on Thursday, ahead of the home game against Florida, per The Hockey News, so he will not play against Florida. Beyond that, the club has set no timetable. Daily Faceoff reports Dubas hopes Kindel can return to practice as soon as next week, under strict guidelines and only after testing clears him. Hope is not a schedule, and this page will treat any return date as unannounced until the club sets one. Pittsburgh’s week does not wait: Nick Suzuki’s absence in Montreal and Ottawa’s returning players show the same churn across the conference.

How had Kindel played on the trip?

He had played a full part in it. On Monday night, in the last game of the trip, Kindel played 18 minutes and 53 seconds in a 5-4 loss to the Utah Mammoth, the second-highest ice time among Penguins forwards. He has played in all nine of Pittsburgh’s games this season, with two goals and four points as the third-line center, a year after a rookie season of 17 goals and 35 points in 77 games that put him ninth in Calder Trophy voting. Pittsburgh took him 11th overall in the 2025 draft, out of Coquitlam, British Columbia.

What happens next for Pittsburgh?

The Penguins host the Florida Panthers on Thursday without him, after placing him on injured reserve that day. Florida’s net in that game belongs to a record: Cooper Black, at 6-foot-8 the tallest goalie in NHL history, makes his debut because Jacob Markstrom was struck by a puck in practice. Other clubs are making the same calls this week, as Ottawa’s mix of one absence and two returns shows. How Pittsburgh has handled a star’s return against this same opponent’s division rivals is covered in Bedard’s captain’s debut against the Penguins, and the goaltending standoff running in the background of the league sits in the Hellebuyck holdout story. Thursday also brings the side behind three straight games with a natural hat trick, which is the hockey part of Thursday. The human part waits on a hospital update.

What does Kindel’s absence mean for the Penguins’ lineup?

That question is real, and it is secondary. If Kindel misses time, Pittsburgh loses its third-line center and a second power-play piece during a 3-6-1 start, on a roster The Hockey News counts as already missing Justin Brazeau, Ryan Graves and Trevor van Riemsdyk on injured reserve, with Samuel Girard and Bryan Rust also unavailable. But the club framed Tuesday around privacy, and the correct order is the club’s update first and the lineup conversation second. This page will update when the club speaks.