Calgary Flames defenceman Kevin Bahl will undergo season-ending surgery for a ruptured Achilles tendon and be placed on injured reserve.
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Calgary Flames defenceman Kevin Bahl will undergo season-ending surgery for a ruptured Achilles tendon, the NHL team announced Sunday, placing the 26-year-old on injured reserve.
Flames head coach Ryan Huska said the injury is a “terrible break” for a player he described as the team’s “best player up to this point of the season.” He added that Bahl sustained the injury during warm-up before Friday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks.
Huska said Joel Hanley took Bahl’s place in the lineup, and the Flames recalled Brayden Pachal from the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers on Sunday.
Bahl led Calgary in ice time at just under 22 minutes per game and had one goal, one assist and 12 penalty minutes over 16 games this season. Over the 2025-26 campaign, he recorded four goals, 14 assists and 47 penalty minutes.
Bahl, a six-foot-six defenceman from New Westminster, B.C., is in his first season with the Flames after they acquired him from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for goaltender Jacob Markstrom and a 2025 first-round draft pick in 2024. Flames assistant captain Zach Whitecloud said the injury has left him “gutted for the guy” and “gutted for the team,” adding that Bahl is “such a big part of this team and plays a lot of minutes.”
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