The New Jersey Devils take on the Calgary Flames on Friday evening or late night, depending on where you live, and will see a familiar face. They will play former defenseman Kevin Bahl, whom they acquired as part of the Taylor Hall trade to the Arizona Coyotes.
Kevin Bahl had a lot of potential when he came to the Devils. He never played for the Coyotes in the NHL, just in their minor league system. His physical presence was something the Devils needed in front of their net. There is so much potential for this big, rugged defenseman in New Jersey. When Bahl was in the lineup, he showed the skill set of an NHL defenseman.
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Early in his NHL career with the Devils, he split time between the AHL and the NHL until the 2023-24 season, where he played all 82 games with the Devils. His role increased last season under former head coaches Lindy Ruff and Travis Green because of the injury to Dougie Hamilton. He recorded 11 points (one goal and 10 assists). but the statistic that stood out the most was during the 17;24 minutes of average time on ice, he finished with a plus/minus of +1.
It was a disastrous season for the Devils, and finishing as a plus player was huge. The Devils probably would have liked Kevin Bahl to use his physical presence more, but that would have taken time. However, with the Devils President and General Manager was in win-now mode, he did not see Kevin Bahl as part of the solution on the backend. The timeline between the player and the team was not in sync. Thus a change of scenery was necessary.
Bahl was part of the package sent to Calgary along with a conditional first-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft for goaltender Jacob Markstrom on June 19, 2024. Flames general manager Craig Conroy continued to get solid assets from the Devils and was about to give another young player another opportunity.
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Yegor Sharangovich was the first. Conroy was very “pleased and surprised” by Sharangovich’s production, so he rewarded him with a new contract. Now, it was Bahl’s turn to be thrust into a new position, and Bahl was not going to let his coach or general manager down.
Kevin Bahl is on the shutdown pair of the Calgary Flames defense with Rasmus Andersson playing 21 minutes a night. And as Salim Valji explained in an episode of That’s Hockey with Gino Reda on TSN, Kevin Bahl has been everything and more for the Calgary Flames this season.
“Kevin Bahl is a really underrated player,” Salim Valji said. “He’s very young. He reminds me a little bit of Chris Tanev, but he’s got a longer reach, and maybe doesn’t throw himself throw his face in front of blocked shots as much as Tanec did over here. But Bahl’s been outstanding.”
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Again, it is all about making the most of your opportunity. Is it like Sharangovich? Was he going to play in the Devils’ top six a year ago? Probably not. Was Kevin Bahl going to play in a shutdown pair or even be with the Devils this season? Who knows? But he is showing that development takes time, and in the right situation, he can be effective.
“And Bahl’s been huge. He uses his sticks so well at the blue line, and that’s opened up Rasmus Andersson, right? Gino. Andersson is tied with Huberdeau for the lead, for the team lead in points, and that goes to show what these two have formed, the chemistry,” Valji said. “Bahl knows what he is. He’s not the flashiest. He might not make the TSN highlight of the night, but what he will do is give you strong minutes in his own zone. And keep in mind, you know that he missed most of training camp, so he’s had a good start.”
You know, Kevin Bahl wants to shut down some of his former teammates, such as Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes. I mean, look at what he has already done this season. He went up against Connor Bedard, Matvei Michkov, Connor McDavid, and Leon Draisaitl and held them off the scoresheet. So, the potential is there to keep these guys off the scoresheet.
Again, it is about opportunity for a player. Kevin Bahl is making the most of his time with the Calgary Flames.
