The 24 year old defenceman was coming off his first full season in the NHL with the New Jersey Devils. He played in all 82 games, mostly on New Jersey’s third pairing, and put up one goal and ten assists in 82 games.

Were the Flames going to get a number six defenceman? Or were they going to get someone who would take the next step in their career and turn into a legit top four defender? Luckily for the Flames, it was the latter.

Let’s take a closer look at Bahl’s debut season with the Calgary Flames.

The numbers

As we all know, Kevin Bahl provides value to the Calgary Flames through his defensive game. He is not the type of player who is going to wow you with goals and assists. And we saw that in his production this season.

Bahl scored three goals and 17 assists. Good for a career high 20 points in the NHL. Those aren’t bad numbers for a guy whose job is to be a stay at home defenceman.

One of the stats that stands out is that he was only a minus-6. It’s impressive when you consider his partner all season, Rasmus Andersson set a Flames franchise record with the worst plus minus (minus-38).

The underlying numbers were not great when you compare them to his fellow defencemen on the Flames.

Bahl was below 50% in every shot metric per Natural Stat Trick. He and Rasmus Andersson were given the most difficult match-ups by Ryan Huska for the majority of the season. That produced mixed results. And that’s to be expected. The Flames asked a lot from a 24 year old who was playing in his second full season in the hardest league in the world.

(Among seven defencemen to play 20 minutes at 5v5.)

In a perfect world, Bahl will be on the Flames second pairing moving forward as their number four defencemen. Asking him to play on a top pairing is just too much and the numbers back that up.

The eye test

There are times when the numbers and the eye test provide different results. That applies to Kevin Bahl.

The numbers, as discussed, were not great. But I thought the eye test was more positive with Bahl.

He does a lot of things well that don’t get tracked with public data. The first thing that stands out when you watch him is that he takes advantage of his reach. He is 6’6″ and has one of the longer sticks in the NHL. He is able to break up a lot of passes before they happen. He’s able to break up plays along the boards using his stick. He’s incredibly difficult get around in one on one situations.

Robert Munnich

@RingOfFireCGY

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I mentioned in my post game thoughts how I liked Kevin Bahl's game tonight. Here are some subtle plays he makes in his own end to break up plays and kill momentum for the opposition. He looks like a tough guy to play against with that size, strength, and reach.

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4:30 AM · Mar 7, 2025

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Robert Munnich

@RingOfFireCGY

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Kevin Bahl makes a great defensive play at the end of the 2nd period! 🎥: Sportsnet | NHL #Flames #Canucks

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2:49 AM · Mar 13, 2025

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Not only does Bahl take advantage of his reach, but he also does a great job of using his large frame to his advantage. The hulking 6’6, 230 pound defenceman doesn’t necessarily throw bone crushing hits. He was 7th on the Flames in hits with 109 despite playing the 3rd most minutes on average this season. But he does a good job of boxing out in front of his net, using his body to separate puck from man, and protecting pucks when trying to get it out of the zone.

Those are elements that you’re looking for from a shut down defenceman.

What’s next?

Bahl is a restricted free agent this summer and is in line for a significant pay raise.

There are two ways Craig Conroy can go about a contract extension. First is a long term contract. A five-to-seven year deal in the $4-5 million range. The other option is a bridge deal, two-to-three years in the $2.75-3.25 million range.

I think it makes a lot of sense to sign the soon to be 25-year-old defenceman for as long as possible. A seven or eight year contract would lock Bahl up for his prime years. You need big defencemen to win in the NHL, and Bahl brings that much needed element to the Flames lineup.