June 30, 2026
James Guillory/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Porter Martone is probably going to make the Flyers, but is approaching the summer like he still has to earn his spot anyway.
Porter Martone, Denver Barkey, and Alex Bump probably don't need to be at dev camp anymore.
They each cracked the Flyers' roster by a certain point last season, and by the end, were key contributors for their breakthrough into the playoffs and then the push into the second round.
They've arrived. They should be near locks for the next opening night roster, and should each be gearing up for their first full seasons as NHL pros.
And yet the Flyers' annual dev camp opened up on Monday, and all three were there on the ice and in the gym at the team's training center in Voorhees.
Ask Martone or Barkey, and they wanted to be there. They still have things to do.
"For me, I'm still a young guy here," Martone said. "And I think I could use my learned experiences and my experience in the playoffs at the end of the stretch there with the Flyers to help everyone here."
"Kind of switching roles from being a young guy, kind of taking it all in, meeting everyone, and learning what it means to be a Flyer," Barkey followed up, now that the 21-year-old is at his fourth camp. "Now being fortunate enough to have playoff experience, NHL experience, being able to help out here, be a leader and put your best foot forward. You know, help the guys, show them what it means to be a Flyer and what it takes day in and day out."
Ask Bump why all three came back...
"We were told, I guess, that we have to be here," Bump quipped, trying to hold back a laugh. "Hey, we're gonna be here anyways, I think. So it's all right. I mean, it's a good time. Get to know some of the new guys. It's been good so far."
Amid a young group that wants way better.
Barkey, 21, got an ahead-of-schedule call-up in late December. He was originally supposed to be up with the Flyers for just a weekend, but ended up playing so well that they couldn't send him back to the AHL, and by the Carolina series in the second round of the playoffs, had head coach Rick Tocchet trying him out as a center to surprising success.
Bump, 22, debuted on March 7, and was the kind of strong, shoot-first winger that the Flyers needed at a point when their playoff chances were still slim, but not yet impossible.
Martone, 19, followed a few weeks later, just as everything was starting to click for the Flyers, and with him arguably being the last piece they needed after waiting all year for him while he played college hockey at Michigan State. Immediately, he looked like a star, who could barrel down the wall, power his way around the corner and to the net, and plant himself in front of it to fire in any puck that fell to him. He scored four goals and 10 points through the last nine games to close out that final playoff push, then scored a couple of key goals in the first-round series win over the Penguins once they were there.
Martone has been training to play a full NHL season, and wants to see what he can do with that long of a schedule and so many more games. All three do, but they're not assuming anything either.
That's part of why they're back in Voorhees so soon, too.
"I got a jump start last year when I got to come in at the end of the season," Martone said. "But, you know, there's still a team to make and a job to earn."
"I think it's a great mindset, though, coming in," said Riley Armstrong, the Flyers' director of player development, who got back out onto the ice with the prospects on Monday. "You don't let your foot off the gas, and you keep working and you earn that spot. I told all the guys this morning, in 3-4 years from now, there's gonna be a new set of kids sitting in those chairs, wanting to come into that room and take your job. So each year you come into camp, you definitely have to earn your spot on the team."
And that approach is infectious, for them, for the current crop of prospects who are still working toward making their mark, and down the line, the organization hopes, for the outlook of the NHL team itself.
That's ultimately why Martone, Barkey, and Bump are back at dev camp, even though they probably don't need to be anymore.
"It's great," Armstrong said. "They got the guys together, they're playing sewer ball, they're talking to everybody, [taking] the new guys in, they're asking them questions, and it's really cool to see them take a step, too.
"Hopefully, in three or four years from now, they're leaders on the Flyers and potentially wearing letters as well. They all did it at different levels, and we're hoping it carries over."
Center prospects Jett Luchanko and Jack Berglund were listed on the dev camp roster and are in Voorhees this week, but neither will be on the ice.
Berglund, 20, is being given a breather after a heavy 2025-26 season that had him play for Färjestad as a pro in Sweden, for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in a jump over to the AHL and North America before year's end, and for Sweden internationally at World Juniors over the winter holidays and at IIHF Worlds in May, Armstrong explained.
As for Luchanko, 19, he's hurt again, and was seen across the rink watching drills from behind the glass in street clothes.
"He had a little lower-body thing going on," Armstrong said. "Should be back skating next week, and he'll be ready for training camp."
Expect that he will be, but remember, too, that a lower-body injury also kept Luchanko out of both dev and rookie camp last summer before the Flyers' full training camp got underway.
That's far from a thrilling sign to hear about when it comes to the former 13th overall pick.
One more note: Martone took the ice on Monday for power skating drills, but hopped off for the skills ones right after.
That's by design, as the Flyers are trying to pace the rookie after he had his own year playing a ton of hockey.
"Start the power skate and then see how I feel throughout the week," Martone said. "Prioritize the workouts and the lifts, and when I can get on the ice, take advantage of that."
The past year was difficult for former first-rounder Jett Luchanko.
The Flyers submitted and announced their qualifying offers to their restricted free agents late Monday afternoon.
They are as follows:
• C Trevor Zegras
• LW Nikita Grebenkin
• D Jamie Drysdale
• Hunter McDonald
And all four of those are 99-percent likely to get done.
Zegras and Drysdale have established themselves as core pieces who the Flyers want to keep around for the long haul. Grebenkin is still a younger forward who they want to see more of, and shouldn't have to spend too much to do it, and McDonald is a big, stay-at-home type of defenseman who will be coming into training camp later this summer challenging for a roster spot.
The Flyers also had the RFA rights to a few other minor leaguers down with the Phantoms, but didn't make any offers to them, allowing those players to go into unrestricted free agency.
Here's that list:
• F Karsen Dorwart
• F Brett Harrison
• F Tucker Robertson
• F Tucker Robertson
• D Artem Guryev
• D Christian Kyrou
Basically, it's a handful of guys who didn't expect to be anywhere near the Flyers' lineup, unless the injuries really piled up.
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