Devils’ Kevin Bahl on His Game: ‘I’m Happy Where My Progression Is.'

After a recent practice, Kevin Bahl assesses his play and talks about the adjustment of being a top-four defenseman.

"(When you) look at our (blue line), we (can) potentially lose Graves, but the pecking order now happens with (Kevin) Bahl. Can Bahl replace him? We think he can. We think his upside is going to be high."

General manager Tom Fitzgerald and his staff entered this season seemingly confident that 23-year-old Kevin Bahl could fill the shoes that Ryan Graves left behind when he signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins on the first day of free agency.

Over the past ten games, Bahl has been adjusting to a top-four role playing alongside John Marino. Entering this season, the most games he played in a single campaign was 42.

He experienced the playoffs for the first time last spring and, along with Damon Severson, was arguably the team's best defensive pair through the first round. But none of that matters because now it is a new season with a new partner.

After a recent practice, I caught up with Bahl to see how things are going for him.

"I feel like I'm adjusting well," he said. "It's just one game at a time, you know? It is learning how to play against different players. I am playing against guys I have never played against. Last year, I did not play against first-line players a lot, so obviously, it is an adjustment."

Bahl is averaging 18:46 of ice time per game, almost five minutes more than last season. He is heavily relied upon as a penalty killer and has 17 hits, tied for the team lead along with Curtis Lazar and Nathan Bastian.

Head coach Lindy Ruff has kept the New Westminster native with Marino as the team's second pair since the start of the season. The duo has had its ups and downs, and during our chat, Bahl shared some insight into what it has been like playing with the former Pittsburgh Penguin.

"He's an excellent player, so it is not that hard," Bahl said. "He talks to me a lot, telling me what to do, how to angle guys, and how to get in the right position."

When the season began, one knew that it was going to take time for the defense to gel together. While Severson and Graves received their fair share of flak from the fanbase, it seems like they may have left a bigger hole than initially expected by some.

In addition to Bahl embracing his new role, Luke Hughes is getting his first taste of an entire NHL season. The rookie has been strong offensively to start, but defensively is dealing with the same struggles every young blueliner goes through when adapting to the NHL. Analytics will tell one that Marino and Jonas Siegenthaler have struggled out of the gate. The whole defensive unit has yet to gel together and has surrendered the fifth-most goals in the league (36).

Even though ten games is a small sample size, Bahl said he is satisfied with his progression and sees improvements in certain areas of the game.

"You always want to be getting better, so I don't want to say I'm happy, but I am excited where I feel like I'm progressing," Bahl said. "I feel like I am getting better at different things, whether that's angling, stick positioning, or awareness. I feel like I'm just getting better in certain scenarios. You can say, I'm kind of happy where my progression is right now."