January 05, 2026

Denver Barkey is getting comfortable with the Flyers, and not looking back

Denver Barkey was once a diamond in the rough hopeful for the Flyers' future, but his development and circumstance have fast-tracked him toward helping the team right now.

By Nick Tricome
PhillyVoice Staff

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Sergei Belski/Imagn Images

Denver Barkey has three points through his first seven games so far as a Flyer.

Denver Barkey dug the puck out of the Flyers' own corner and put Philly on the offensive.

Sean Couturier took it through the neutral zone, flipped it to Owen Tippett to take it across the Edmonton blue line along the wall, and just behind both of them was their other winger in Barkey, hustling down the middle of the ice in a break straight for the Oilers' net.

The 20-year-old had the Edmonton backcheckers caught on their heels while their attention was fixated on the puck, and once he hit his stride, they couldn't hope to catch him as he split right through two of them.

Tippett sailed a pass to the front of the crease, and Barkey won the race there to tap the spinning puck over the goalie's shoulder and in. It was Barkey's first NHL goal, and the opening tally that sent the Flyers on their way to a 5-2 win over the Oilers on Saturday without ever looking back.

Barkey might not be looking back either.

Denver Barkey is a Philadelphia Flyer. #PHIvsEDM | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/7MIGtZvsTu
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) January 3, 2026

Ever since he was called up before the Holidays last month, Barkey has skated like he belongs.

Playing on a line with Tippett and Couturier from the jump, he recorded his first two assists in his NHL debut at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 20, notching both with clean, heads-up passes into open space from off the wall.

He went quiet on the stat sheet in the several games that followed, leading into and coming back from Christmas on what was an overall shaky stretch for the Flyers, but even so, he was attacking.

Barkey crashed the net, he hounded the puck, and despite weighing in at just 5'9" and 155 pounds, per NHL.com's listing, he's been a winger who willingly goes into board battles and so far, hasn't been overwhelmed.

Then Saturday in Edmonton came along, and the work paid off.

Barkey won the puck away from the boards in Philly's own end against a much bigger Edmonton forward in Vasily Podkolzin (6'1", 190), broke it out from behind their net, then sprinted all the way back down to the Oilers' side to finish the play and cash in for his first career goal.

And throughout the sequence, he never looked back.

"Hell of a defensive play," head coach Rick Tocchet said afterward of Barkey's initial effort to get the puck.

"It was only a matter of time before he put one in," veteran defenseman Travis Sanheim said of the goal itself, noting that Barkey had been generating a ton of chances for both himself and his teammates prior.

Barkey's take postgame...

"I think game by game, I'm just getting more comfortable and more confident," he said. "Getting more comfortable with my linemates, too. I think we're reading each other a lot better as games go on, so just continuing to build that."

Without looking back.

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Bob Frid/Imagn Images

Denver Barkey isn't afraid to battle after a puck.

Barkey, a former third-round pick from the OHL's London Knights in the 2023 NHL Draft, has been on Flyers fans' radars for a while now.

In juniors, he was a high-flying, high-energy forward who, while undersized, had the skill and the promise of one day becoming a potential middle-round steal in the vein of Tampa Bay's Brayden Point – an NHL star now, but once upon a time, a third-rounder who broke out and caught everyone but the Lightning by surprise.

This season, after captaining the Knights to the Memorial Cup to close out his junior career alongside fellow Flyers prospect Oliver Bonk, Barkey took the professional jump into the AHL with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He was expected by many to spend at least the majority of the season in Allentown to develop.

But circumstances altered the plan.

ARCHIVED: How Denver Barkey became 'the guy' in London

Tyson Foerster went down with an upper-body injury that, after further evaluation, required surgery and has effectively sidelined him for the rest of the regular season.

The Flyers needed a winger capable of producing in Foerster's absence, and Barkey was already playing a complete enough game down with the Phantoms that, within the organization, built up enough belief to accelerate him toward an NHL look.

Barkey got the call, put his No. 52 jersey on, and hasn't looked back.

And if he keeps playing the way he has so far, he might not have to.

He could be a piece to fully settle in and help the Flyers take another step now, rather than linger as one of the many hopeful names who, albeit are still on their way, but still part of a far off future.