Bahl Takes Nothing for Granted | FEATURE

Though the eye test may say otherwise, Kevin Bahl insists he’s not faster this season.

“I’ll be honest, I don’t think I got any faster. I think I may have gotten a bit slower,” Bahl laughed.

Regardless, through two preseason games and scrimmages Bahl has shown an ability to join the rush, pinch deep in the offensive zone on the cycle and still find a way to track back to be in a position to defend an opposing rush.

So, if he isn’t faster, then how would the Devils’ defenseman explain why he’s been able to cover so much ice so seamlessly thus far?

“I think my positioning is a bit better, the way I’ll angle a guy or surf the centerman,” Bahl, 23, said. “Just being in the right position makes you look faster. You’re not chasing the game and chasing to the next position.”

Some of Bahl’s slick skating, er, his slick positioning, was on display in New Jersey’s 3-2 win against the New York Rangers Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.

During 4-on-4 play, Bahl carried the puck below the offensive goal line and found forward Jesper Bratt in the slot for a scoring chance. Later – on that same 4-on-4 stretch – Bahl jumped up ice to lead a rush and create a 2-on-2 opportunity for the Devils with the aforementioned Bratt.

“I saw Luke (Hughes) had the puck and he can fly,” Bahl said. “Then I saw his big brother (Jack Hughes) was behind him. I knew I would be pretty useless if I went behind him because he’s not going to want to give me the puck. So, I figured I’ll hop in the rush and get in the front layer.”

Bahl collected a pass and crossed the blue line. He then sauced a pass to Bratt, who had blown past New York’s Chris Kreider. Bratt took the pass for a semi-break and scored to give New Jersey a 2-1 lead.

“I knew (Bratt) was going to fly by that guy and I would be able to dish it,” Bahl said. “He’s got unbelievable speed. I just tried to jump up in a layer and in a spot I could be useful.”

Bahl has incredible size and a long reach with his 6-foot-5, 230-pound frame. He takes away a lot of ice in the defensive zone and has improved on using his body in physical play – not just in terms of throwing hits, but winning wall battles and separating players from the puck. And now he's developing into a well-rounded defender. 

“He fits into his body more now than he did a couple years ago," head coach Lindy Ruff said. "You see that with a lot of players that are tall and lanky. They get a little bit stronger, they get a little more pop in their stride, they get a little more quickness."

Bahl’s role with the team grew last year. During the first 25 games of the 2022-23 season, Bahl only appeared in four games, spending most of the time as a healthy scratch. But he played 38 of the final 57 contests, including 11 of 12 playoff games. And he even found himself skating alongside defenseman Dougie Hamilton at times during the year.

With the off-season departures of Ryan Graves and Damon Severson, both of whom averaged 19:57 minutes of ice time per game, there is an opening on the Devils for an even bigger role with even more minutes than that 14:01 per game Bahl averaged last year. He played 19:09 and 19:10 in his first two preseason contests.

“That’s the kind of leap I really need to make right now, especially coming from last year,” Bahl said. “I didn’t get those kinds of minutes. I really want to prove that I’m able to do that and I’m trying my best every night.”

The Devils used Graves and John Marino as their shutdown pair last season, going head-to-head against the opposing team’s best players. With Graves gone, there is an opening next to Marino. Bahl filled that role Thursday night.

“Every game I’m trying to be a defenseman that’s safe,” said Bahl, a key piece in the Devils’ trade of Taylor Hall. “You can throw him out there. You know he defends well against top-6 guys.”

The Devils re-signed Bahl over the summer to a two-year contract worth $2.1 million ($1,050,000 per year). Bahl joked that he hasn’t made any big purchases with his new contract, opting to save the money. Instead, he focused this summer on healing from a lingering health issue that plagued him all of the past year.

“There was some stuff I had to figure out with my body and getting back to tip-top shape in terms of healthiness,” Bahl said. “I just had something lingering from the other (2022) off-season. I had it going on all last year. So, getting my body all the way back to healthy, that was my main priority this off-season and getting into that conditioning of battle drills.”

And even though it feels like a natural progression for Bahl to take on a bigger role this season, it’s worth bearing in mind that he still has only 66 games on NHL experience – 42 coming last year. He’s still very young and needs to continue to develop.

And that’s exactly why he isn’t taking anything for granted.

“I don’t want to get complacent,” he said. “I don’t want to think (I made the lineup). If I think that way, I wouldn’t be able to push myself and keep on getting better every single day. That’s exactly what I’m trying to do is get better every single day.

“You have to always be getting better. If you’re not getting better then you’re slowly getting worse in my eyes. It’s like everything in life, you have to take one step at a time, one day at a time.”

And now Bahl hopes to take that next step in his development and career.

“Coming into every game, it’s one game at a time trying to earn my spot on this team,” he said. “I don’t have anything I’m trying to do except for that.”