It’s been a whirlwind of a year for Denver Barkey. After putting up close to a point per game total in his draft year as an undersized player in the OHL, Barkey was drafted by the Flyers in the third round. It was something of a surprise choice, to some at least, but it was one which seemed pretty immediately to be paying off. Because Barkey’s production positively exploded this season — putting up a total of 102 points over 64 games played in the regular season, and finishing the seasons fifth in scoring across the whole of the OHL.
The step forward he took was really remarkable, and it’s a step that, as Barkey sees it, came when all parts of his game started to come together:
I think I learned a lot of things, the biggest thing is just playing on both sides of the puck… my head coach, he taught me a lot about the defensive zone and just little skills like that. Because you need to get trust from your coach at the next level on the defensive side of the puck, so I think a lot of that stuff is going to help me translate. And then obviously, you know, I had a pretty productive offensive season as well.
But it wasn’t a perfect season for him either. In fact, the offense really started to pop off for him in the second half of his season, specifically as soon as he was returned to London after being cut from the World Junior team after their training camp, and had to watch teammates Oliver Bonk (and linemate) Easton Cowan stick with the team and head to Sweden for the tournament.
The World Junior camp was a cool experience, [and] to not make it was heartbreaking, and it was a tough couple days for me, it stung a bit, but you gotta move on, and my goal was to, you know, prove them wrong and use that to fuel the fire. So after I got cut there, I kind of used it as motivation for the rest of the season to prove them wrong and just continue to grow as a player and a person.
Barkey took that opportunity to be The Guy for the Knights in their absence and ran with it, and he was little short of on fire through the end of last season, he couldn’t be slowed down, and the amount of fuel that cut seemed to give him was impossible not to notice. And now, with the potential of making the jump to the NHL early, at the beginning of this season, decidedly a long shot, Barkey’s sights are set on earning a spot on that World Junior team this time around.
“I got invited to World Junior camp [summer showcase] at the end of July,” he noted back during Flyers Development Camp, “so I’m gonna go back there and try to prove to them that I deserve to be on the team this year, and I’m gonna do everything in my power to show them that in the week that I’m there.” And to that aim, he’s off to a good start — with Canada getting started last night with a scrimmage up in Windsor, Barkey’s Canada White squad looked a little overwhelmed, and fell behind early, but Barkey, with a clutch goal, was the one to get them going, and begin a comeback. And though it was one that ultimately fell a bit short, Barkey is already doing well to assert himself as a difference maker among the best players in his age group.
Now, this is only the very beginning of the evaluation process, and a lot can happen between now and when the roster is finalized in December, but Barkey’s chances of making that roster seem pretty good. He’s coming in with some real momentum off of that very successful D+1 season, and with around 14 skaters set to be graduating from last year’s roster, there’s going to be a good number of roster spots up for grabs. And if Barkey can keep this momentum rolling with a successful Summer Showcase, that will go a long way towards changing the minds of the brain trust of roster makers, if getting his name back on the radar.
