Less than halfway through the 2025-26 season, the Philadelphia Flyers are already icing a much different team than the one they started the year with.
Once upon a time, Flyers GM Danny Briere cited the size of Zeev Buium, which was already comparable to the likes of Cam York, Emil Andrae, and Jamie Drysdale, as one of the primary drivers that led to the selection of Jett Luchanko instead.
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Well, Andrae, 23, didn’t even make the Flyers to start this season after an impressive 2024-25 season on the whole, and his 5-foot-9 size and ho-hum training camp didn’t do him favors in comparison to taller teammates Adam Ginning and Egor Zamula.
Now, Andrae has emerged as one of Rick Tocchet’s most important defenders and is already up to nine points in 24 games, smashing last year’s total of seven points in 42 games.
As for Ginning and Zamula? Both had their opportunities to play for the Flyers and make a case to stick in the NHL, but, at least for now, both players are loitering in the AHL with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
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Are the Flyers suddenly turning over a new leaf after experiencing first-hand the lack of success they had going with a bigger lineup for the sake of being bigger? Maybe, but the diminutive Denver Barkey having an impressive and productive NHL debut against the New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon isn’t a coincidence.
Barkey, 20, is in the midst of his first season playing pro hockey and got the call-up from the AHL in the wake of an injury to Christian Dvorak, though the Flyers probably needed to add a forward to their roster regardless.
Well, two primary assists later, the 5-foot-9, 155-pound forward has already made a case to stay with the Flyers beyond this one-game cameo, excelling on a line with top forwards Sean Couturier and Owen Tippett.
In my eyes, Barkey, formerly the captain of the OHL London Knights, was one of the most impressive young guns in Flyers training camp alongside Nikita Grebenkin.
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The 2023 third-round pick is one of those players that, despite their size, manages to get involved in every play at both ends of the ice, attack the game with poise and moxie, and carry themselves assuredly, whether right or wrong.
The Flyers have a use for more of those players, even though the logjam at forward doesn’t necessarily help the cause.
Still, the Flyers now have two more players shorter than 5-foot-10 than they started with the season with, and it’s working out well so far for them.
Another poor performance from Sam Ersson spoiled Barkey’s debut, which ended in a 5-4 shootout loss, but as long as the Flyers continue to trust in their most talented players above singular traits, the results will eventually come.
