Flyers prospect Denver Barkey named OHL Player of the Week

It’s only November, but Denver Barkey has already had quite the season for the London Knights in the OHL. The Philadelphia Flyers third round selection has been named the OHL Player of the Week.

The Knights wound go undefeated in three games this past week, in part thanks to the play of Barkey. He recorded two goals and had seven points in those three games. Barkey and the Knights kicked off the week with a high-scoring 10-7 win against the Windsor Spitfire. Barkey collected three assists in the game.

Barkey was the show in the Knights 5-4 overtime win against the Owen Sound Attack. He registered two assists and also had the game-winning goal in overtime.

To close out the perfect weekend for the Knights, Barkey tallied another goal in a dominant 4-0 shutout of the Guelph Storm. Barkey teamed up with Easton Cowan for a short handed goal, which turned out to be the only goal the Knights would end up needing.

It’s too early to call Barkey a steal in the draft for the Flyers, but he is certainly performing at that level so far. He was ranked as high as #52 by TSN’s Craig Button and as low as #80 by multiple outlets including TSN’s Bob McKenzie. The Flyers drafted him with the 95th overall selection. So they are getting value from a player who was projected to go higher than where they ended up getting him.

On the season, Barkey ranks first among Knights in goals (11), assists (15), and points (26). His 26 points rank fourth among all OHL players. He is ninth in both goals and assists. Barkey also recently reached the 100-point mark in his OHL career. There’s a lot of time left in the season but Barkley is currently projected to shatter his career highs from last season. If he stays on his current pace, he’s projected the finish with 42 goals and 99 points. For reference, he had 22 goals and 59 points a season ago. Even if he doesn’t reach that mark, he is likely to earn new highs in each category.

1. The Flyers have to be happy with what they’ve seen from Barkey so far this year. He impressed during development camp and subsequent training camp and even earned himself a game during the preseason, something you don’t always see from players expected to return to juniors. The 18-year-old still has room to grow, but should have the Flyers and its fans excited for what’s to come in the future.