Recently, the Philadelphia Flyers have caught some flak for their drafting. Since 2023, four first-rounders have been used to net Oliver Bonk, Jett Luchanko, and Jack Nesbitt (trade-up involving picks 22 and 31). Analysts have argued that none of them are projected to be stars, which may negatively affect the long-term outlook of the team.
Related: Flyers Still ‘So Far Away’ According to Prospect Expert
Fortunately, some of the prospects selected later are starting to impress. One of them is doing so in the NHL: Denver Barkey. He’s developing like a first-round pick despite being a 2023 third-rounder.
Diving into Barkey’s Numbers
This season, 20 forwards drafted in 2023 have reached 200 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time. Barkey is among them, and he’s one of only four who weren’t selected with a first-round pick. He’s in elite company now.
Already, Barkey is looking more like a first-round pick than a third-rounder. That’s especially apparent if we dive into some of the numbers, even if they are from a limited 22-game sample.
Among those 20 forwards, Barkey ranks 11th in points per 60 minutes at 5-on-5, with 1.44. That’s notably ahead of Adam Fantilli, the third-overall pick from his class.
The on-ice impact has been especially eye-opening. As a rookie, sometimes it’s difficult to turn scoring chances into production. Barkey has done a decent job of this, but his nine points understate how effective he has been.
Barkey ranks second in 5-on-5 expected goal share at 59.11%. Additionally, he’s third in shot on goal share at 53.93% and sixth in shot attempt share (also known as Corsi) at 51.50%. In other words, he’s out-chancing the opposition on most nights—the process is absolutely there.
The only thing going against Barkey is bad puck luck. When he’s on the ice, he’s getting a .848 save percentage at 5-on-5. This might have to do with the fact that he wasn’t playing during goaltender Dan Vladař’s dominant early-season run, but in any case, that low mark is unsustainable. Expect fewer goals against and a better plus/minus in the future.
Why Barkey Is a Special Player
Those numbers are far from nonsense nerdspeak. They’re proof that everything we’ve seen from Barkey at lower levels is translatable to the best league in the world. He might be 5-foot-10 and 171 pounds, but he has the intelligence, motor, and skill to win battles and generate offense against bigger, much more experienced foes.
Better yet, this is a player who is years away from his prime. Barkey is only 20 years old, meaning that his game is far from done evolving. The fact that he is already the perfect complement to veterans in the top nine makes a long-term future in the top six far from unreasonable. In fact, that may be the new expectation.
Someone like Barkey is especially good to have when Porter Martone and Matvei Michkov are the two hopeful faces of the franchise. They need a player who can always be on the same wavelength, and that’s exactly what Barkey provides. He’s a smart, high-energy guy who has the skill to fit in with the cool kids.
It’s important not to get too carried away, but Barkey is looking like the player we saw in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and American Hockey League (AHL). The 20-year-old hasn’t missed a beat jumping from junior to the pros, even amid a frustrating stretch for the Flyers. He’s developing like a first-rounder, surpassing some of the best from his draft class.
Stats courtesy of Evolving-Hockey
