While the news of the weekend in Calgary is the drafting of Cole Reschny and Cullen Potter, the Flames made headlines in the NHL world by re-signing defenceman Kevin Bahl to a six-year, $32.1 million contract extension. 

Bahl came into the offseason as a restricted free agent and we mentioned before he was someone Craig Conroy had to bring back to the roster.

For one, Bahl is the leading left-handed defenceman in the locker room. The only other lefty d-men regulars from last season were Jake Bean and Joel Hanley, and it's safe to say they're not going to be regular faces anymore.

Meanwhile, you can count the abundance of right-handed blueliners and it never seems to end: Rasmus Andersson, Zayne Parekh, MacKenzie Weegar, Brayden Pachal. Hunter Brzustewitz, who is looking to to be a full-time player, is also a righty.

And it's also not just a superficial thing.

Even though he scored 20 points, the BC native has proven to be a very useful piece too.

According to JFresh Hockey's microstats, Bahl was in the 94th percentile during 2024-25 season amongst defencemen in denying entries into the Flames' defensive zone. He also ranked 84th in preventing controlled entry into Calgary's side of the ice.

Being 80th in hits just shows he plays physical.

Overall, while he may not deliver a lot on offence, he is in the 76th percentile in even strength wins-above-replacement on defence. That is more than three-quarters of the league's defencemen.

I'd say let's roll out the red carpet already.

And considering this is a six-year deal and that the Flames haven't selected a left-handed defencemen in their first three picks in this year's draft, it seems like Bahl is going to be the designated left defenceman in that top pairing for quiet a while.