[Signing] Flames re-sign Kevin Bahl (six years, ~$5.35 million AAV)

[GullFoss]

the athletic

Even with the cap growing, a $5 million cap hit should still be reserved for defensemen who can actually play in the top four. It’s fair to be skeptical that either Bahl or Hague can do that to an effective enough degree to be worth it. While Bahl was in that role for the Flames last season, that was out of necessity more than merit. Bahl’s presence there was part of the reason the Flames weren’t a very good hockey team.

This doesn't seem like an unreasonable take tbh

[devo22]

did Bahl play 21 minutes per game because the Flames weren't a very good hockey team, or weren't the Flames a very good hockey team because Bahl played 21 minutes per game? I think that's an important distinction to make. I agree with statement A, but I don't agree with statement B. Going through our roster, it's actually crazy how bad the defense looked on paper outside of Weegar and Andersson ... Hanley, Pachal, Bean, Miromanov. Not a good group, even though Hanley and Pachal performed admirably IMO.

In a perfect world, Bahl plays something closer to 18 minutes. And yeah, I think it's fair to question whether you have to pay a guy like him 5m a year. Then again, you're hoping he can take another step and solidify himself as a legit top 4 guy ... and let's not forget that guys like Gudbranson bagged 4m/year in free agency years before a higher cap was even on the horizon.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by GullFoss

This doesn't seem like an unreasonable take tbh

It's not a bad take, is Bahl that good or did the Flames just not have enough quality d to push him down the lineup. But I disagree that you can't have a $5.35 mil dman on your bottom pairing. Cap is going to $113 mil in 2 years, but it's a bit unknown what it does after that. Extra regular season games, world cup coming. I highly doubt the cap stays flat after year 2 of this contract.

Long term deals now will look very good in a year or 2.

Bahl getting 6 years makes sense too for him. He will be 31 and D like him probably don't get more than 4 years if he signed for 8 years and the contract expired at 33.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by GullFoss

This doesn't seem like an unreasonable take tbh

I think it's a bad take. First of all, the 'Flames weren't a good hockey team" is a terrible and lazy argument - even if they were, it doesn't follow to blame him for that. And they actually weren't a bad team defensively, it was a lack of scoring that kept them 1 pt out of the playoffs and 5 pts behind the mighty Oilers.

Second, Bahl was actually very good last year, which was obvious to anyone who watched. Any shortcomings they had on defense were not the result of him, and he did not look out of place at all in the top 4.

Yes, he generates very little offense (though that too improved throughout the year), but his first pass isn't a weakness. He isn't a top pairing guy, but he was a solid top 4 guy last year. And is trending strongly.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by devo22

did Bahl play 21 minutes per game because the Flames weren't a very good hockey team, or weren't the Flames a very good hockey team because Bahl played 21 minutes per game? I think that's an important distinction to make. I agree with statement A, but I don't agree with statement B. Going through our roster, it's actually crazy how bad the defense looked on paper outside of Weegar and Andersson ... Hanley, Pachal, Bean, Miromanov. Not a good group, even though Hanley and Pachal performed admirably IMO.

In a perfect world, Bahl plays something closer to 18 minutes. And yeah, I think it's fair to question whether you have to pay a guy like him 5m a year. Then again, you're hoping he can take another step and solidify himself as a legit top 4 guy ... and let's not forget that guys like Gudbranson bagged 4m/year in free agency years before a higher cap was even on the horizon.

Fair question that the Athletic also asked as they consider it one of the worst deals of July 1st.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/646...st-deals-2025/

Tough RFA bets

Not every RFA bet is made equal. Even with team control, there’s still room for error if a team misevaluates what they have. That’s easier on defense, where a lust for size can lead to ignoring actual on-ice quality. Kevin Bahl and Nicolas Hague are two prime examples of that. How either player is getting over $5 million is beyond me.

Even with the cap growing, a $5 million cap hit should still be reserved for defensemen who can actually play in the top four. It’s fair to be skeptical that either Bahl or Hague can do that to an effective enough degree to be worth it. While Bahl was in that role for the Flames last season, that was out of necessity more than merit. Bahl’s presence there was part of the reason the Flames weren’t a very good hockey team. As for Hague, he struggled in third-pair minutes with Vegas last season, making him a difficult bet to move up the lineup on a worse team. To Hague’s credit, he’s at least been close to the calibre of a No. 4 defenseman in the past, but the Predators should be paying for what he is now — a fine third-pair guy — not what he used to be.

I'm not losing sleep over the deal because the Flames aren't up against the cap or in win-now mode. Bahl will have to improve somewhat going forward to make the deal fair for the Flames but I don't know if that's too tall of an ask.

[BACKCHECK!!!]

Defensive defencemen are difficult to evaluate.

The really good ones make it look easy — “he’s not a good defenceman, it’s just that nothing ever happens when he’s on the ice”.

But Bahl doesn’t look to me like a $5m player yet. And I think he’s going to have to elevate his game significantly to be worth $5m even as the cap goes up.

Hopefully he does. At 25 years old, he’s still got a little bit of runway.

[Jiri Hrdina]

One question to ask is "what if he is overpaid"? Meaning if the Flames are wrong on this bet how wrong will they be.
At minimum I think he's a 3.5M player. So if they are wrong, we are talking about 1.5M overpay, at worst.
It's nothing on a relative basis.

[IamNotKenKing]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Fair question that the Athletic also asked as they consider it one of the worst deals of July 1st.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/646...st-deals-2025/



I'm not losing sleep over the deal because the Flames aren't up against the cap or in win-now mode. Bahl will have to improve somewhat going forward to make the deal fair for the Flames but I don't know if that's too tall of an ask.

Didn’t Dom, the author of that article, also state the Oilers had the best defense in the NHL?
Take with not just a grain of salt, but the entire frickin’ salt lick…

[ResAlien]

Originally Posted by IamNotKenKing

Didn’t Dom, the author of that article, also state the Oilers had the best defense in the NHL?
Take with not just a grain of salt, but the entire frickin’ salt lick…

From the same article

Bouchard is one of the absolute best offensive defensemen in the world, serving as rocket fuel for Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. He helps make them better with his dynamic puck play from the back-end and he only elevates his game further in the playoffs. In a world where Noah Dobson gets $9.5 million and Jakob Chychrun gets $9 million, having Bouchard for just $10.5 million is a steal. And that’s true even if it’s only for four years and even if he’ll make some Big Mistakes along the way.

I suspect said author is a bit of a fan

[Ba'alzamon]

The other thing about Bahl is that he's really the only partner that managed to stabilize Andersson to any significant degree last season. And yes--the hard minutes were a factor there. Andersson never had it easy last season.

I think, if Bahl ends up spending next season alongside Parekh as has been widely speculated, people outside Calgary are going to be very surprised at how good he looks. There's no way they'll be playing matchups like Bahl - Andersson did last season.

[traptor]

Bahls a baller. He's young, big and already a great defender. This is going to be #5D money in a couple years and will be a sweetheart deal. Bahl is showing he can be a top 4 staple already.

[sketchyt]

I've had to adjust my view of NHL salaries the last couple years. $5 million is not a lot for a mid-level productive hockey player anymore. For d-men:

• Third pairing: $3-5 million
• Second pairing: $5-7 (maybe 8?) million
• Top pairing: $7-8 million+

In that scale, I'm viewing Bahl as a high end third pairing or low-end second pairing dman. When the Cody Ceci's of the world are getting $4.5 million, I'd take Bahl's $5.xx any day of the week.

It's a solid but not spectacular signing.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

I don't think the Athletic article really captures what is actually happening in the NHL. Top-top guys are going for $9-11million, Top pairings $7-9 million, Top 4 $4-7 million.

Bahl is young and better than the Ceci types. He isn't Pionk or Gavirikov, but isn't getting paid $7 mil either. I think he slots in very nicely at his number. If he continues to improve, it will be a steal. If he flatlines, it is still in the realm of a bottom pairing that is not on an ELC.

Edit: Sketchy beat me to it. Similar idea.

[Sylvanfan]

These days most teams employ 4 forwards on the powerplay and for a lot of teams they have two guys playing 24 minutes, another one at 21, than a #4 in the 18-19 range and 13-14 for the third pairing. So a guy playing top PK and 2nd pair ES with no PP can end up around 19 depending on the composition of the teams backend. Florida was playing Forsling around 23, Ekblad and Jones at 21 and Mikkola at 20 with Schmidt and Kulikov around 16:30.

It's becoming a two tier league and a team like the Flames needs someone to take their money until they draft better guys to take over those roles. So he's not going to hurt the Flames, and if you try to compare this to Ekblad it's a fail for sure. But in an environment where the cap is 113 million. One guy making 5.35 to be a 4-5 is not going to crush you.