Move over, Bumper Bonk.
The Flyers’ three-game win streak has been built on a wave of young talent, with Matvei Michkov, Cole Knuble and Oliver Bonk drawing plenty of the spotlight. Michkov and Trevor Zegras are tied for the team lead in scoring with eight points apiece, Bonk has four assists in six games, and Knuble delivered the first two goals of his career in a 3-1 win over Buffalo that pushed Philadelphia’s streak to three.
But there’s another young Flyer doing important work in a much quieter way.
Denver Barkey has become a steady presence for Philadelphia, and his value goes well beyond his four points in nine games, which still place him fifth on the team in scoring. Rick Tocchet pointed straight to Barkey’s impact on the power play, especially in the bumper role.
"Five-on-five, I think he's played really well for us. But I thought, underrated guy on the power play.
His bumper position, he might not actually get on the score sheet sometimes, but he's kept plays alive, he's kept - the retrievals - pucks in play, which we had difficulty last year. I would give him a big credit on the power play, what he's doing," Tocchet said of Barkey.
"Don't get me wrong, Mich scoring, and Trevor and Porter the other night, like that's great, but I think a guy like Barkey really helps that unit with the retrievals."
For Barkey, the role is still fairly new, but he says he’s settling into it more with each game.
"We've been getting into the zone with possession and then keeping possession, supporting pucks really well. I feel like it takes five people on the ice to have a good power play. It's just my job to get there, to support guys when they do have pressure on them, and feel like I've been doing a good job of that now with a couple games under me belt in that position," Barkey said, "finding little tweaks and little area where I can find more space or make little improvements, but definitely starting to find my comfort in that position."
That’s a different assignment for Barkey than the one he handled at the junior level, where the bumper duty belonged to London Knights teammate - and now Flyers teammate - Oliver Bonk. Bonk hasn’t offered any advice on the job just yet.
"We joked about it a little bit," Barkey said of Bonk. "Nothing yet. I'm sure he'll have something for me coming up here."
Barkey’s rise has been notable from the jump. The 5-foot-10 former third-round pick has already stuck at the NHL level in his first full professional season and made the Flyers out of training camp this year. The former Knights captain has also shown the kind of maturity and versatility that lets him handle center, wing, power play and penalty kill duties.
His game may not jump off the page the way Bonk’s top-pair minutes, Knuble’s scoring burst or Michkov’s team-leading offense do, but Barkey has become one of the pieces Tocchet trusts most. That kind of value doesn’t always show up loudly on the scoresheet, but it matters all the same.
In Other News...
Flyers May Finally Have The Stability In Net Fans Craved
For a team that has spent plenty of recent seasons trying to figure out the crease, the Flyers are finally seeing something sturdier from their goaltending. Dan Vladar and Joseph Woll have both given the club a more dependable look in net, and the combination has helped quiet at least some of the uncertainty that usually shadows Philadelphia when the conversation turns to the last line of defense.
Vladar has settled in after a rough opener, and Woll has been just as encouraging, giving the Flyers a tandem that looks capable of carrying real weight if the rest of the roster does its part. The longer-term piece matters too, because Vladar is signed for the long haul while Woll is under contract through next season, which gives Philadelphia a chance to stop treating net as a yearly problem and start treating it like an actual strength. [Read more 🡒]
Red Wings Trade Rumor Just Put Dylan Larkin Fans On Edge
When Cam York and Rasmus Ristolainen are ready to come back, the Flyers could run into a roster squeeze on defense, and David Jiricek is the name most likely to get caught in it. The former top prospect still has not lived up to the billing that once followed him around the league, and Philadelphia may need to create room if it wants to get its blue line back to full strength without juggling the rest of the roster.
Jiricek's situation is the kind that often gets attention around the NHL, but not always for the right reasons. Even with his pedigree, the sense around the league is that a move like this would not necessarily spark a bidding war, especially after he has already been through a couple of organizations. For the Flyers, it is another reminder that injuries can force decisions quickly, even when the player at the center of them was once seen as a major piece. [Read more 🡒]
Trevor Zegras May Be The Fix For A Frustrating Flyers Problem
The Flyers have spent the early part of the 2026-27 season dealing with a familiar annoyance: a power play that is creating enough to suggest better results, but not actually cashing in often enough at 5-on-4. The raw scoring rate has dipped from last season, even though the underlying expected-goals numbers have stayed relatively solid, which usually points to a unit that is doing some good things without seeing the payoff yet.
Trevor Zegras is a big reason there is still optimism around that group. His puck skills and playmaking give Philadelphia a different kind of threat once the man advantage gets set up, and the staff has seen enough to believe there is more room for this power play to grow into its chances. If the Flyers can keep generating looks the way they have been, the missing piece may be less about structure and more about getting the right finish at the right moment. [Read more 🡒]