Where Are The Now: Kevin Bahl
Kevin Bahl’s Ontario Hockey League career wasn’t supposed to begin the way it did, when he entered training camp with the Ottawa 67’s in 2016.
“Honestly, I remember I’m pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to make the team,” he recalled of his 16 year-old season, in a recent interview with TSN 1200’s Kenny Walls. “There was a couple of injuries during camp, and I kind of got to stick around, and play some games.”
In fact, the 6’6 230lbs Bahl suited up for 57 games during his rookie season, and all six of that year’s postseason contests. Quickly establishing himself as a mainstay on the Ottawa blue line, with physicality and responsible defensive zone play, Bahl also chipped on the scoresheet, occasionally. The Mississauga, Ontario native scored his first OHL goal in a road visit to the Kingston Frontenacs on November 30, 2016.
All told, Bahl wrapped up his rookie campaign with a goal, and three assists.
With a season under his belt, and a new head coach in André “Bear” Tourigny, Bahl began to come into his own, as one of the OHL’s premier defenders. In 58 games during the 2017-18 season, he scored a goal, along with 17 assists for 18 points, but began to make a name for himself due to his stellar defensive play.
Bahl’s sophomore campaign was good enough to see him chosen by the Arizona Coyotes in the second round, 55th overall, during the 2018 NHL Entry Draft.
If the 2017-18 season was Bahl beginning to find his game, the subsequent one was when he arrived, completely. The defenceman’s third season with the Barber Poles saw Bahl reach career-high’s in every category; appearing in all 68 games, scoring six goals, and 28 assists for 34 points. With Ottawa improving as a team, and Bahl becoming an efficient player in both ends of the ice, his season was punctuated by a staggering +50 rating; third-best in the league that season, after fellow 67’s Tye Felhaber, Austen Keating, and Marco Rossi.
During Ottawa’s run to the OHL Final, that spring, Bahl scored his first career playoff goal against the Sudbury Wolves in Game 1 of the second round, also tallying two assists in an 8-5 Ottawa victory. He’d wrap the postseason up a goal and 10 assists, for 11 points in 15 games.
The ill-fated 2019-20 season still saw more than its fair share of high watermarks for Bahl, including a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2020 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship, where he tallied an assist through seven games.
Back home in Ottawa, 54 games saw Bahl on pace for the best numbers of his career, before the COVID-19 stoppage. He recorded six goals, and 25 assists, in a season where he was traded by the Coyotes to the New Jersey Devils.
With the pandemic putting an end to his OHL career, Bahl’s time in professional hockey began with the American Hockey League’s Binghamton Devils, for the 2020-21 season. Thankfully, he had some familiar faces around him to help smooth the transition, in former 67’s teammates Nikita Okhotyuk, and Graeme Clarke.
“That definitely helps,” said Bahl. “Also [the area is] pretty close to home. My sister goes to St. Lawrence University, so she’s not too far away. My parents for four hours away, so it’s a pretty good spot.”
Ever the adaptable defenceman, it didn’t take Bahl long to find success at the AHL level. In a 6-3 road win over the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins on April 16, 2021, Bahl scored his first professional goal. He’d ultimately end his first season at the pro level with a goal and four assists through 27 games.
That wasn’t the highlight of Bahl’s year, though, making his NHL debut against the Philadelphia Flyers on April 29 of that year. It was the beginning of a seven-game stint with the big club, that saw Bahl playing upwards of 18 minutes a night.
“It was awesome,” Bahl said of his NHL debut. “It was just a lot of adrenaline flowing through my body. First shift, you’re jumpy, you’re shaking. I don’t know, just crazy.”
While Bahl has played another six games with the Devils during the 2021-22 season, he’s become a fan favourite among the fans of New Jersey’s freshly-minted AHL affiliate, in the Utica Comets. A group that dwells mainly in Section 203 of the Adirondack Back Centre has taken up the moniker of “Bahl’s Army”, loudly displaying their devotion to the former Barber Pole every single night.
“it’s unreal.” said Bahl. “It’s absolutely insane, and when they start chanting, you hardly can even hear yourself talk. Your ears are ringing. It’s crazy.”
Now enjoying a career-best season with Utica, scoring three goals and 13 assists, for 16 points through 51 games, Bahl is doing what he’s always done: just focusing on getting better every day.
“It’s a long process, and that’s what I’ve learned in the AHL so far. It’s just a marathon,” he said. “You’ve just got to keep on getting better, focus on what’s what’s just ahead of you, or what’s happening right now. You’ve got to look at the long term path.”
As Bahl continues on the path that began with that surprising 16 year-old season, he’ll have fans cheering him on not only in Utica, but back in Ottawa, as well.
