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Kevin Bahl

Flames Expected To Activate Connor Zary, Kevin Bahl

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The Calgary Flames are expected to activate forward Connor Zary and defenseman Kevin Bahl off of injured reserve ahead of Sunday night’s game, per Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960. Zary has sat out of Calgary’s last 15 games with a knee injury, while Bahl missed the last eight games. Both players have served impactful roles this season, making their returns a notable addition to a Flames lineup just three points back from a Western Conference Wild Card.

Of the pair, Bahl has been the more utilized Flame so far this year. The 24-year-old defender joined Calgary in the trade that sent Jacob Markstrom to New Jersey this summer, and quickly claimed a top-four role in his new setting. He’s posted a tame stat line, with 14 points, a plus-one, 29 penalty minutes, 67 hits, and 79 blocked shots through 47 games this season – while spending much of it lined up next to top Flames defender Rasmus Andersson. That premier partnership has helped Bahl’s average ice time jump north of 21 minutes, nearly four minutes more than he averaged in New Jersey last season. While he still has improvement to go, this season has been Bahl’s first making a top-of-the-lineup claim, after last season marked his first full season in the NHL. He should quickly return to that top-pair role when he’s able to return, likely bumping Ilya Solovyov out of the lineup.

Zary’s bid back into the lineup will be a bit tougher to anticipate. The Flames added Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost and parted ways with Andrei Kuzmenko via trade during Zary’s absence. That’s sparked a lineup shakeup that Zary will now have to find his footing within. Farabee and Frost have filled a third-line role alongside Yegor Sharangovich, which should leave a top-six role next to Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman open for Zary. But the young forward will need to earn his footing. He has 10 goals and 22 points in 40 games this season, a slight uptick to the 14 goals and 34 points he scored as a rookie last year. If Zary can continue to grow that scoring upside, and his knack for making big plays – his return could be the piece that solidifies Calgary’s top-nine as a group to envy. But tepid offense could be the piece that necessitates further changes.

The pair of returns will give Calgary their first chance to see their roster at full-strength after their trade with Philadelphia. Zary and Bahl are two young, impactful pieces of the Flames lineup – and stood as two of the biggest bright spots on the year before they fell to injury. How the lineup performs amid their return will be closely scrutinized, as Calgary hones in on a potentially lucrative Trade Deadline.

Flames Recall Ilya Solovyov

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The Flames announced Wednesday that they’ve recalled defenseman Ilya Solovyov from AHL Calgary. He takes the roster spot of Kevin Bahl, who was placed on injured reserve last week following an upper-body injury.

It’s Solovyov’s first recall of the season after playing 10 NHL games last year and subsequently clearing waivers during training camp. The 24-year-old lefty has emerged as a top-pairing AHL option with the Wranglers this season, ranking second on the team with a +18 rating and posting six goals and 15 assists for 21 points in 41 games.

That two-way play will earn him a look on the NHL roster for the first time since last April. The 2020 seventh-rounder didn’t look entirely out of place in his first big-league audition, posting three assists in 10 games for the Flames in 2023-24 while averaging 15:54 per game. His 46.1 CF% at even strength wasn’t impressive but wasn’t abysmal, either, and he blocked 17 shots and laid 14 hits during his time in the lineup as well.

Solovyov was a restricted free agent for most of last summer before returning to Calgary on a two-year, partial two-way deal that converts to a one-way pact for 2025-26. It’s clear the Flames see NHL upside in the 6’3″ Belarusian, and he could be set to enter the lineup in place of struggling veteran Tyson Barrie on Thursday against the Avalanche.

Flames’ Kevin Bahl Out Week-To-Week

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The Calgary Flames have designated defenseman Kevin Bahl as out week-to-week with an upper-body injury per TSN’s Salim Nadim Valji. Bahl suffered what appeared to be a head injury after receiving a big hit against the boards from Minnesota’s Jakub Lauko in Calgary’s Saturday night win. Bahl has missed the Flames’ two games since. He’ll now be a candidate for injured reserve, while the Flames will get assured for carrying eight defenseman on their roster leading into the weekend.

Bahl is in the midst of a career year. He has scored 14 points in 47 games, already surpassing his career-high 11 points in 82 games set last season. That boost in scoring has come in tandem with a strong defensive presence, helping Bahl gradually climb the lineup in his first season with the Flames. He has averaged just over 21 minutes of ice time each game, making him the team’s third-most utilized defenseman behind Rasmus Andersson and MacKenzie Weegar. Bahl also ranks third on the blue-line in blocks (79) and hits (67). It’s been beyond an encouraging season for the 24-year-old, who was traded to the Flames alongside a first round draft pick in exchange for Jacob Markstrom this summer. Bahl had previously spent the last three seasons trying, and failing, to earn secure ice time in the Devils defense. Now on a blue-line decimated by Calgary’s 2023-24 trading of Nikita Zadorov, Chris Tanev, and Noah Hanifin – Bahl seems to finally be finding his footing at the top flight.

Calgary has recalled Tyson Barrie from an AHL conditioning stint to fill in for Bahl. Barrie played his first game since early November on Tuesday. He recorded one assist, a -1, and one penalty in 17:20 of ice time. That’s certainly a welcome return for the 14-year-veteran who only had two points in nine games this season entering the contest. Barrie will now have a chance to prove he still belongs in the NHL, even at the age of 33, with big minutes opened up in Bahl’s absence.

Pacific Notes: Vegas Injuries, Bahl, Gazizov

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The Vegas Golden Knights were without forward William Karlsson and defenseman Nicolas Hague at practice today (X Link). The former hasn’t been with the team since this past Sunday while Hague seemingly injured himself in last night’s preseason contests against the Los Angeles Kings.

One would reasonably assume Karlsson is dealing with an undisclosed injury given that Vegas held him out of Tuesday’s practice and the game yesterday evening. He did practice toward the start of training camp but may enter the 2024-25 regular season without factoring into a preseason game. Karlsson is coming off another solid season for the Golden Knights last year scoring 30 goals and 60 points in 70 games and will look to build on that total this year.

Hague shouldn’t be out too long with Jesse Granger of The Athletic reporting he was out for a maintenance day. This was thought to be the likely reason for his absence from practice today as Hague returned to play the rest of last night’s action after missing briefly at the start of the second period. Granger shared that head coach Bruce Cassidy expects Hague to return to practice tomorrow with the team.

Other Pacific notes:

  •  Head coach of the Calgary Flames, Ryan Huska, indicates defenseman Kevin Bahl could be making his preseason debut with the organization as reported by Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg. The 6’6″ defenseman is preparing to begin his first year with the Flames after being the only player acquired by the team in the trade that sent goaltender Jacob Markstrom to the New Jersey Devils. Steinberg shares that Bahl has been nursing a lower-body injury which has precluded him from skating with the team so far but gave no indication when the injury was suffered.
  • The AHL affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks, the San Diego Gulls, are bringing in a bit of forward depth announcing a one-year standard contract for Ruslan Gazizov. It will mark Gazizov’s first year in professional hockey after an impressive three-year run with the OHL’s London Knights. The young Russian forward finished third on the Knights in scoring last season with 36 goals and 81 points in 63 games including another seven goals and 14 points in 15 playoff contests.

Devils Acquire Jacob Markström

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The Devils have their goalie. New Jersey announced the acquisition of Jacob Markström from the Flames for defenseman Kevin Bahl and their 2025 first-round pick, which is top-10 protected. Calgary is retaining 31.25% of Markström’s $6MM cap hit in the trade, bringing it down to $4.125MM for the Devils.

Speculation about New Jersey picking up a high-end starter had run rampant as far back as midseason. The Devils looked like a team on a meteoric rise after last season’s 112-point showing, but below-average performances from all three goalies they started the season with (Nico Daws, Akira Schmid, Vítek Vaněček) were one of the many factors that brought them back below the .500 mark this year.

After shipping out Vaněček to the Sharks at the trade deadline and getting some stopgap solutions in Jake Allen and Kaapo Kähkönen, they now have their bonafide starter. It took the 2008 second-rounder quite a while to break out, but he took over the crease for the Canucks in the 2017-18 season and hasn’t looked back. The 6’6″ netminder has finished top 10 in Vezina balloting in three of the past six seasons, including a second-place finish in 2022. That was a statement year for him and the rest of the Flames, as he tossed up a .922 SV% and a league-leading nine shutouts in 63 starts as Calgary won the Pacific Division title, just its second since 2006.

Things turned south as he regressed to a .892 SV% in 2022-23, but he put together a nice rebound campaign this season despite battling through a handful of injuries. His 23-23-2 record isn’t impressive at first glance, but he returned to being a top-10 goalie in the league in terms of goals saved above expected with 13.7, per MoneyPuck. He had a .905 SV%, 2.78 GAA and two shutouts behind a Flames team that had its worst season defensively in quite some time under first-year head coach Ryan Huska.

Even still, Markström’s results last year were brought down by a poor stretch of post-trade deadline play – an understandable slump given the trade rumors connecting him to New Jersey at the time and the fact he was playing with a lower-body injury. From March 4 onward, he went 2-8-0 with a .869 SV% without putting up an SV% over .900 in any single game. To put it succinctly, Markström had a better year than a quick look at his results would indicate.

Since signing his six-year, $36MM deal with the Flames in free agency in 2020, Markström has a .907 SV% over 212 starts and one relief appearance. That’s good for seven goals saved above average, indicative of the peaks and valleys he’s shown during his time in Alberta. He’s one of four goalies to start more than 200 games over that timeframe, joining perennial Vezina challengers Connor Hellebuyck, Juuse Saros and Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Landing Markström at $4.125MM against the cap for the next two seasons is a considerable discount for Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald, as it’s much less than he would cost on the open market. He’ll form a formidable veteran one-two punch in net with Allen, who remains under contract with New Jersey next season at a reduced $1.925MM cap hit thanks to the Canadiens retaining salary when trading him at the deadline. The Devils, after dealing with younger, more inconsistent unknowns in Schmid and Vaněček for most of last season, now have an above-average backup and starter for a total of $6.05MM against the cap.

Calling Markström truly elite would likely earn you some pushback, given his year-to-year dips with Calgary, and that pushback would be fair. But he has the most established track record of any goalie the Devils have iced since Cory Schneider’s run of elite play in the mid-2010s. The deal has them much better positioned to make the playoffs next season and embark on a deeper run than in 2022 when they escaped the first round but were dispatched by the Hurricanes in five games in Round 2. The 23-year-old Daws and 24-year-old Schmid are also afforded some additional development time in the AHL after an inconsistent 2023-24 campaign for both.

Markström, 34, has two years left on his deal. He’ll become a UFA in 2026, and ideally, by that point, one of Daws or Schmid will have developed into dependable NHL options. While on the older side, he fits well with their immediate timeline. They’re now left with $16.05MM in projected cap space with eight open roster spots, per CapFriendly. Versatile forward Dawson Mercer is their only notable RFA in need of a new deal.

New Jersey pulling off this deal without surrendering a top prospect or their 10th overall selection in this year’s draft is a good piece of work by Fitzgerald, especially with the Flames retaining a considerable amount of salary.

Losing Bahl isn’t nothing, though. The 23-year-old was a second-round pick in 2018 out of OHL Ottawa. He did well this season, his first true full-time NHL campaign, posting 11 points in 82 games while averaging 17:24 a night. His 6’6″, 230-lb frame obviously draws appeal for Calgary, and GM Craig Conroy said today he was a “priority player” throughout discussions with the Devils (via Sportsnet’s Eric Francis). However, his possession metrics last season were subpar, logging a 48.3 CF% and 48.7 xGF% at even strength that both fell south of New Jersey team averages.

Bahl is still young, however, and carries legitimate top-four shutdown upside. He’s under contract next season at a reasonable $1.05MM cap hit and will be an arbitration-eligible RFA next summer. In 148 career games with the Devils since making his debut in the 2020-21 season, Bahl has four goals, 21 assists, 25 points and a -1 rating while logging 16:14 per contest.

If the Devils’ 2025 first-rounder does land within the top 10, they’ll transfer their 2026 first-round pick to Calgary instead, regardless of its placement.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

TSN’s Travis Yost was first to report Markström was headed to New Jersey.
TSN’s Darren Dreger was first to report the trade return and salary retention.
Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic was first to report the 2025 first-round pick was top-10 protected.

Evening Notes: Gudbranson, Bahl, Oettinger

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Brian Hedger of The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson is expected to play tonight after being limited to 16:49 in Saturday night’s game against the New York Islanders. A lower-body issue forced the 31-year-old defender to play his lowest minutes of the season, but it appears as though the Ottawa, Ontario native won’t miss any games and should be good to go against the Dallas Stars this evening.

Gudbranson has been held scoreless in eight games this season while averaging 19:32 of ice time per game. The Blue Jackets have struggled to possess the puck with the former third-overall pick on the ice, despite Gudbranson getting most of his starts in the offensive zone. Gudbranson has also been much less physical to start the year, averaging less than one hit per game, which is well below his career average of over two hits per game.

In other evening notes:

  • New Jersey Devils reporter Amanda Stein tweeted that Devils defenseman Kevin Bahl missed practice today due to an apparent illness. This information comes from New Jersey head coach Lindy Ruff. Bahl has two assists in eight games this season and has seen a dramatic increase in ice time this year as he is playing over 19 minutes a night after averaging just 14:01 a game last season. The 23-year-old rearguard doesn’t offer much offensively but has started to develop into a reliable stay-at-home defenseman on what is a very deep Devils defensive group.
  • Saad Yousuf of The Athletic reported today that Dallas Stars netminder Jake Oettinger have offseason surgery on his foot this past July from an ankle injury that occurred in October 2022. The 24-year-old had sought out multiple opinions and was surprised when he got the call early in the summer that he would need the procedure. The star netminder was only able to get back onto the ice in mid-September after rehab, just a week before the start of Stars training camp. Oettinger looks to be feeling no ill effects from a late start to his skating as he has gone 3-0-1 in his first four starts with a .952 save percentage.

New Jersey Devils Re-Sign Kevin Bahl

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The New Jersey Devils re-signed defenseman Kevin Bahl today to a two-year contract worth $2.1MM with an annual average value of $1.05MM, according to a team release. Bahl will earn $900K in actual salary in 2023-24 and $1.2MM in 2024-25 under the terms of the deal. After signing Bahl, the Devils have re-signed all their restricted free agents this offseason.

A 23-year-old left-shot defender out of New Westminster, British Columbia, Bahl played a career-high 42 games with the Devils last season and largely avoided AHL assignment, skating in only three games in the minors with the Utica Comets. Playing a physical, two-way game by trade, Bahl improved significantly on his previous short NHL stints in 2022-23, continually working his way up the team’s depth chart and playing in 11 of 12 postseason games for the Devils. He finished the regular season with two goals, six assists, eight points, a +4 rating, and 35 penalty minutes.

The hulking 6-foot-6 Bahl now looks to keep his pace and stay in the Devils’ lineup full-time, even with promising prospects like Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec ready (or close to ready) for full-time NHL duties. New Jersey will likely bet on Bahl to replace some of the grit and defensive acumen they lost when Ryan Graves departed for the Pittsburgh Penguins in free agency earlier this month, and they’ll likely increase his ice time from last year’s 14:01 per game in the process. Giving Bahl a seven-figure cap hit certainly demonstrates an organizational belief in the player.

After signing Bahl, CapFriendly projects the Devils to be comfortably cap-compliant with $1.92MM in projected space, assuming a full 23-player roster. This projection assumes youngsters like Hughes and Nolan Foote make the team but not 2020 seventh-overall pick Alexander Holtz. The Devils have $2.575MM in dead cap this season thanks to $2MM wrapped up in the Cory Schneider buyout, a $325K penalty from the Janne Kuokkanen buyout, and the nearly-finished yearly $250K recapture penalty for terminating Ilya Kovalchuk’s supermassive 15-year, $100MM contract in 2013.

When this contract concludes in 2025, Bahl will still be a restricted free agent. He’ll also be eligible for arbitration at that time.

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