Kevin Bahl

Last Season

Four goals and 14 assists in 76 games, plus-two, at 21:57 a night — the heaviest workload on the club — with 1,390 five-on-five minutes.

The Finesse Game

There is not much and there is not meant to be. Eighty-three unblocked attempts from a median of 57 feet with seven per cent inside twenty, and four went in. Eleven goals in 297 career games.

He moves the puck to the first available option and lets the forwards do the rest. Fourteen assists from top-pair minutes is a low number and an honest one.

The Physical Game

Six foot six, 230, and the reason he plays. He defends the front of the net properly, closes gaps with reach rather than speed, and blocks shots. Forty-seven penalty minutes is a big defenceman playing within himself.

The Intangibles

The numbers are severe. Forty-four and a half per cent of the expected goals — 11th percentile in the league — with the expected goals running 52.0 to 65.2 against him across 1,390 minutes, and the actual goals 47-65.

The context is a poor team and the hardest assignment on it. But he played more than anyone here and the ice tilted whenever he did, and neither the shot attempts nor the chances nor the goals disagree with each other.

He is 26, a second-round pick, and Calgary is giving him a top pairing because the alternatives are worse. That is not the same as him being one.