Why Sharp likes a Flyers prospect who has ‘won a lot already' originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Patrick Sharp can relate to Denver Barkey.
Like exactly. At least when it comes to their draft status.
Both were selected by the Flyers in the third round at 95th overall. Identical pick, just different years.
Sharp made sure to inform Barkey of that distinction when the Flyers’ prospect was drafted in 2023.
“I said, ‘Hey, you’ve got some big shoes to fill there — third round, 95th overall,'” Sharp recalled with a smile earlier this month at Flyers development camp.
Sharp, a product of the 2001 draft, was traded by the Flyers to the Blackhawks in 2005. With Chicago, he won three Stanley Cup titles and scored 30-plus goals four times.
Barkey won and scored quite a bit at the junior ranks. The 20-year-old is now set to turn pro this season with AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley.
Last season, he captained the best team in Canadian major junior hockey. He led London to a Memorial Cup title, scoring two of the Knights’ four goals in the championship. In 10 OHL playoff games and five CHL Memorial Cup games combined, Barkey put up 27 points (12 goals, 15 assists).
Over his OHL career, the 5-foot-9 winger delivered 73 points (27 goals, 46 assists) and a plus-37 rating in 53 playoff games. He made the OHL championship series three times in four seasons and won the last two.
“He’s a guy that the players seem to gravitate to in the locker room,” Sharp, a special advisor to the Flyers’ hockey operations department, said. “Has a lot of tools to his game. Obviously people talk about his size, but his hockey IQ is exceptional, he has got great skating ability, he’s ultra competitive and he has won a lot already.”
The Flyers kept Barkey off the ice at development camp after he battled an ankle injury in the playoffs that cost him seven games.
“It’s a lot better, it’s feeling close to 100 percent right now,” Barkey said. “Just still trying to rest and recover from all the bumps and bruises of a long season.”
London’s Memorial Cup run finished just over a month before camp. It wasn’t easy keeping Barkey off the ice.
“He always comes to me every morning, ‘Hey, do you think you can get me out on the ice?'” Flyers director of player development Riley Armstrong said. “I’m like, ‘No, you’re done.'”
As Barkey graduates from the junior level, he’ll have to prove his game translates against pros and that the lack of size won’t hamper him.
“It’s a big jump next year, I’m going to be playing against older men, strong guys,” Barkey said. “Continuing to get stronger, faster and I think the biggest thing is just using my brain and finding a way to adjust.
“Junior was really fun, learned a lot in London, but I’m ready for the next step, new journey with a new team. I’m just excited to get it going and see where it goes.”
Similar to 2023-24, when he racked up 102 points, Barkey was driven by another Team Canada snub last season. For a second straight year, he didn’t make his country’s world juniors roster. He went on to score 1.64 points per game, the best mark of his OHL career.
“Just continuing to use people that don’t believe in me, that kind of doubt me, just use it as fuel to my fire, motivation every day,” Barkey said. “I kind of just keep that in the back of my head.”
The Flyers know to not count him out.
“He has got that nice little chip on his shoulder of proving people wrong,” Armstrong said.