67’s helped launch Kevin Bahl to NHL success
The Calgary Flames are wheels up on their one and only trip to Ottawa this season, but there is a piece of towering defenceman Kevin Bahl that still calls the city home.
On Monday night, Bahl made only his fourth trip to the nation’s capital as an NHLer, playing on the Flames’ top defensive pairing with Rasmus Andersson, and logging important minutes on the penalty kill. With his former billet family in the building, it was a momentous occasion for the 24-year-old.
“It’s obviously fun to come back and play in a city where you spent four or five years of your life,” Bahl said. “In saying that, it’s just kind of a weird feeling seeing the city and all the places I used to drive by every day.”
Picked in the second round (31st overall) by the Ottawa 67’s in the 2016 OHL Priority Selection, Bahl had a tremendously successful junior career, appearing in 237 games with the Barber Poles, picking up 87 points.
The New Westminster, B.C. native was a part of some special teams with the 67’s, including the 2018-19 squad that reached the OHL Final, capturing the Bobby Orr Trophy, and the 2020-21 team that was robbed of the opportunity to compete in the postseason by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Twice a winner of the Hamilton Spectator Trophy, Bahl says the good memories come flooding back every time he touches down in Ottawa.
“Right off the bat, it was a bit of a struggle for me, but then there was a lot of joy and a lot of happiness,” Bahl said. “There were a lot of good times, a lot of fun, especially those last three years. We were building in that second year, then the third and fourth, they were just the cherry on top. I got to play with good teams and had a chance to win in those years.”
Still young in his career, Bahl’s role with the Flames has been big. Sometimes, it’s cause for pause, to reflect on where he is. He’s living his childhood dream, suiting up alongside big names he watched on TV in his youth.
“Sometimes on the ice, I get ahead of myself,” Bahl explained. “The big thing is to be prepared every night. You got to be in ‘every night’ mode, or you’ll get ahead of yourself. Every single day it’s about preparation. It’s what you eat, how you sleep, how much water you drink, all of that.”
His NHL career path has been an interesting one, to say the least. Originally drafted by the Arizona Coyotes in the second round in 2018, he was traded to the New Jersey Devils as part of the Taylor Hall trade. He spent four seasons in Newark, but was moved to Calgary this past offseason alongside a first-round pick for Jacob Markström.
Being moved for big names comes with added pressure, and in Calgary, his average time-on-ice per game has swelled by around four minutes per game – the highest it has ever been.
Thankfully, Bahl says everything he has experienced thus far has prepared him for this kind of situation, including his time in junior, where he played a very similar role in his last two seasons with the Barber Poles.
“I think the coaching I had there [was big],” Bahl said. “I was really fortunate to have André Tourigny and his crew there. I learned a lot of NHL-level things, and I was really fortunate to do that. Without them, I don’t know where I’d be in my career.”
For new 67’s, Bahl is the kind of player they can look up to. He hasn’t made his living by being the flashy point-scorer, but has instead been the gritty shut-down defender that teams covet.
That said, he has fought for everything he has been given, only becoming a full-time NHLer last season. To those fresh faces in the Barber Poles’ locker room, he offers some advice: fall in love with the grind, because it’s not easy to make the NHL.
“The work is just beginning,” Bahl said. “If you think you’re going to play one or two years of junior, and then you’re going to hop to the show, it ain’t the right career path for you. You’re going to go there, you’re probably going to play four or five years, and you’re probably going to have to play a couple more years in the minors.”
“You have to really bear down every single day. Whatever you can do in the gym and on the ice, be laser-focused, even if it’s a small amount of time, whether that’s learning, watching your shifts, or watching how other guys play other systems.”
The biggest part, though, is to make this time count, because it goes by quickly.
“Just don’t let it go to waste, because you’ll look back and you’ll say, ‘I should have done more.”
