It appears that the Flames are closing in on a long-term deal with one of their pending restricted free agents. PuckPedia reports (Twitter links) that Calgary is close to signing defenseman Kevin Bahl to a six-year contract with an AAV around $5.35MM per season. The breakdown of the agreement will be as follows:
2025-26: $2.35MM salary, $3MM signing bonus
2026-27 – 2030-31: $5.35MM salary; no-trade list from 2027-28 to 2030-31
The 25-year-old was a piece of the trade last June that saw New Jersey acquire goaltender Jacob Markstrom from the Flames. Bahl was added along with a first-round pick that was used on center Cole Reschny last night with the 18th overall selection.
A move to Calgary meant a move to bigger role for Bahl. After four seasons of battling for minutes on New Jersey’s bottom pairing, he immediately took to a top-end role for the Flames. Bahl averaged over 21 minutes of ice time a night through 73 games this season, while serving as the go-to partner for top Flames’ defenseman Rasmus Andersson. That role earned Bahl a career-high 20 points, complimented by a minus-six and 35 penalty minutes. Bahl also ranked third on the Flames blue-line in hits (109), third in blocked shots (116), and fourth in takeaways (24).
Landing a strong spot across the stat categories is great momentum for the young Bahl, who had only appeared in 148 games with the Devils prior to joining the Flames. He totaled 25 points, a minus-one, and 127 penalty minutes in those appearances – marks that he’s already outpaced, or outright broken, with the Flames. He’s an imposing, 6-foot-6 defenseman who’s adjusted well to playing away from the puck and jumping up into play at an NHL level. Those were the traits that many scouts questioned in the 2018 NHL Draft – forcing the large-frame defender down to the Arizona Coyotes’ selection at 55th overall. The Coyotes traded him to the Devils in their 2019 acquisition of Taylor Hall and Blake Speers.
Now, two teams later, Bahl has cemented an NHL contract that will carry him through his age-30 season. Bahl is a lanky, defense-first defender who played opposite a strong puck-mover all year long. That fact, and his physical upside, could set up a long career in tandem with aggressive scoring-defenseman Zayne Parekh.
What is Conroy doing? I’m not a Flames fan, but that is an odd signing money wise.
Bahl gets tough minutes but is merely average, not someone who excels in that role. With the cap going up this might not stand out as a wild overpay, but still not a great allocation of money long-term. Unless I’m missing something. Any Flames fans around to comment?
Also, how the hell does a GM give a no-trade clause to an RFA? Who had the leverage here?
Not age well? This contract reeks to begin with.