Author: Jackie Spiegel

CALGARY, Alberta ― And with that, 2025 comes to an end.

The Flyers wrapped up the calendar year with a 5-1 loss to the Calgary Flames on the second night of a back-to-back. It moved them to a 20-12-7 record this season and a 36-34-13 record since Jan. 1.

Here are seven things we’ve learned this year about the Flyers.

Trevor Zegras is still good

It’s time to put the last two years for Trevor Zegras fully in the rear-view mirror.

In 39 games with the Flyers, the 24-year-old New York native is not only putting up big numbers (15 goals, 24 assists), but he’s also controlling play, showing off the flash and creativity that made him a star — we all saw that between-the-legs pass attempt to Travis Sanheim on the rush and him playing the puck off the boards to himself before setting up Christian Dvorak in Tuesday night’s win — and bringing a big personality to the locker room.

He is on pace to demolish his career high of 65 points and is just eight goals shy of tying his career high, with 43 games to go.

The power play still isn’t good

As recently stated, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and, clearly, neither was the Flyers’ power play. Although it’s not last in the NHL anymore — progress! — entering Wednesday, it was ranked 25th with 17 goals in 105 opportunities (16.2%).

And it’s cost the Flyers games, like Sunday’s loss to the Seattle Kraken, where they faced the league’s worst penalty kill and couldn’t score despite three man advantages.

There have been several iterations, with the newest tweak moving Christian Dvorak to the net front with the unit led by Zegras getting an 18-second audition on Tuesday before Jamie Drysdale was called for interference.

On Wednesday against the Flames, that unit had the majority of the time across two power plays. They had six shot attempts on the first man advantage, with Cam York swapping with Drysdale at one point.

In the final advantage, which saw Drysdale go out with the other unit, York moved to the unit with Zegras, Travis Konecny, Dvorak, and Denver Barkey. They had four shot attempts, with the other unit, which started the power play, getting two, including Drysdale hitting the crossbar.

Overall, the movement has been good, but they can’t find the back of the net.

Denver Barkey is an NHLer

In the first period against the Canucks on Tuesday, Denver Barkey lost his stick in the Flyers’ end. Did that stop the 5-foot-9 rookie, who was skating in his fifth NHL game? Not at all. There he was, throwing his body around and making plays to stop the pressure from Vancouver.

Called up to the big club to provide a boost to the top nine, Barkey has shown he has the skill and the smarts to stay. He’s come close to scoring his first NHL tally and already has two assists — each coming in his debut at Madison Square Garden.

Across six games with Sean Couturier and Owen Tippett, Natural Stat Trick has the Flyers with 60.16% of the shot attempts and 69.39% of the scoring chances when they’re out there.

“Barks is an energy guy. He’s really helped,” Tocchet said. “I think he’s helped Tipp a lot. I think Tipp, our last couple of games, has been one of our best forwards, and I think that Barkey’s really helped.”

Added Couturier: “I like his game. I like the way he thinks; he’s a smart player, offensively and defensively. He does a lot of the little plays that create time and space for us, me, and Tipp. Yeah, he’s got a good vision out there.”

Barkey is just one of several players, like Alex Bump and defenseman Ty Murchison, who made his NHL debut in December, too, waiting in the wings.

The Flyers’ prospect pool has gotten deep

Danny Brière hasn’t been on the Western Canada swing. Instead, the Flyers general manager has been in Minnesota watching not just the next draft class but six of the organization’s prospects playing at the 2026 World Juniors.

While a half-dozen is a solid number, it says more about the prospect pool that three are wearing letters with two — Jack Berglund for Sweden and Porter Martone for Canada — sporting the “C.” Heikki Ruohnen is an alternate captain for Finland.

Martone, who was selected this past June, has created a lot of buzz as he stars for Michigan State. His addition, along with players like Jett Luchanko, Oliver Bonk, Bump, Jack Nesbitt, and Yegor Zavragin, has pushed the Flyers’ prospect pool up the rankings. Elite Prospects and The Athletic each rank the Flyers at No. 7.

“It’s pretty good,” assistant general manager Brent Flahr recently told The Inquirer when asked about the prospect pool. “Obviously, we had a lot of picks last year. We’ve had some guys emerging from previous drafts that have played well and are trending in the right direction. So, yeah, overall, pretty excited.”

Dan Vladař just needed a chance

When the Flyers signed Dan Vladař on July 1, a lot of people scratched their heads. They’re not scratching anymore. Vladař, who came to get a chance as a No. 1, has brought his A game to the Flyers.

Among goalies who have played at least 18 games, he’s tied for seventh with a .910 save percentage. Who is he tied with? The upper echelon of NHL goalies like Igor Shesterkin, Spencer Knight, Ilya Sorokin, and Jake Oettinger. His 14 wins in 23 starts rank tied for 11th with Linus Ullmark and his old goalie partner in Calgary, Dustin Wolf.

“I think he worked on his game this summer because he went with a skating coach, and I think he wanted to work on some stuff like the next play, the rebound,” Tocchet said recently. “And I noticed him this year he’s in position for the second rebound. … I think Vladdy’s worked on that, and I think he’s really done a great job when it comes to that second save, being in position and not being out of position.”

Travis Sanheim has arrived

In June 2023, Sanheim was almost sent packing to St. Louis. On Wednesday, he was named to Canada’s 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics squad.

“With the game last night [in Vancouver], we flew to Calgary and got in, I think it was just after 2 o’clock, and then my phone went off just before 8 local time,” Sanheim said via Zoom. “I was up pretty early, not a lot of sleep, and I usually have trouble after games anyway, and I was aware of that potential phone call coming.

“So just the excitement level and receiving that, and it means to represent your country and be a part of something like the Olympics, and I’ll take the sleepless night to take a phone call like that.”

The news comes less than a year after he made his mark on the international stage for Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off. Originally, the American and Canadian media questioned whether he even belonged; then, he was a healthy scratch in the tournament opener. But in the end, he was manning the blue line on the opening shift of overtime in the championship game.

There is no quit in this team

Since 2025 started, the Flyers have trailed 1-0 46 times in 82 games. It is tied for the second-most in the NHL with the New York Rangers and Calgary Flames. Their win over the Canucks was also their 19th after trailing 1-0, which ties the Dallas Stars for the most in the calendar year.

And this season, the Flyers have 14 comeback wins, which is also No. 1 in the NHL. They are tied with the Rangers, Nashville Predators, and Detroit Red Wings for the second-most third-period comeback wins (five).

“Yeah, just resilient. We just keep playing,” Konecny said. “We believe in ourselves and trust the process that you’re going to get your opportunities. And you know, sometimes there’s a great way, but if you keep sticking with it, I think over the course of a year, it bounced out.”

VANCOUVER, British Columbia ― As the Flyers skated around the rink for warmups, a fan held up a sign that read “Toccquit,” in reference to Flyers coach Rick Tocchet opting to leave the Vancouver Canucks and finding a home in Philly.

Whether it sparked the Orange and Black or not, the Flyers did what good teams do — defeat bad ones. And despite an iffy start, they skated away with a 6-3 win against the Canucks.

It is the Flyers’ third win in four games, a stretch starting with a 5-2 win against the same Canucks on Dec. 22.

Of course, in the penultimate game of 2025, the Flyers would trail 1-0. Since Jan. 1, Tuesday’s game was the 46th time in 82 games they’ve trailed 1-0, tied for the second-most in the NHL with the New York Rangers and Calgary Flames. But it is also their 19th win from such situations, which ties the Dallas Stars for the most in the calendar year.

This season, they’ve trailed 26 times in 38 games, and have a 13-8-5 record.

David Kämpf gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead 3 minutes, 45 seconds into the game on their eighth shot. The Flyers hadn’t registered one, and they got pinned after a breakout pass off a faceoff hit the back of Denver Barkey’s skate as Vancouver controlled the boards. Drew O’Connor created a separation between himself and Cam York and found Kämpf in front.

But the Canucks played Monday night in Seattle and, despite beating the Kraken in a shootout, entered the night 30th in the NHL in points percentage. So the Flyers started to turn it up — with their play, their speed, and on the scoreboard.

First, Noah Cates tied it up 12:02 into the game. Travis Konecny threw a big-time hit — one of 26 by the Flyers in the game — on Vancouver’s Conor Garland as he tried to carry the puck into the Flyers’ zone. It didn’t lead to the goal, but it forced the Canucks to regroup as the Flyers clogged the neutral zone.

Travis Sanheim got the puck after it bounced down — Matvei Michkov forced the air pass — and gave it to Bobby Brink. He found Michkov on the right wing with the Russian actually knocking the puck down with one hand on his stick. He settled it, and, while drifting backward, fed the puck back to Cates, who wristed it short-side.

Cates now has 10 goals on the season. Across the past seven games, since Cates, Brink, and Michkov became a line, the Minnesotan has three goals and six points.

The trio wasn’t done, as Michkov fed Brink to make it 4-2 in the third period with Cates springing the duo from the Flyers’ end. Michkov settled the bouncing puck as Zeev Buium poked it back to him and then avoided the Canucks defenseman’s poke check.

Michkov carried the puck wide on the left wing as Brink went right to the net — something Tocchet wanted to see more of from his club — and Brink opened up to direct it into the net.

The assist was the 50th of Michkov’s career, and he now has 22 points in 38 games this season. Brink has 10 goals, two off his career-high.

In between the third line’s scoring spree, Carl Grundström continued his hot streak, and Konecny scored his 12th of the season.

Grundström made it 2-1 Flyers early in the second period. Sanheim moved the puck up to Nikita Grebenkin, who couldn’t control it inside the Canucks’ blue line but was able to push it down the right boards. Grundström skated down, corralled the puck, and scored into the top left corner from the bottom of the right circle. The Swede now has seven goals in 12 games with Philly and extended his goal-scoring streak to four games.

Konecny made it 3-1 in the second with a nifty move atop the crease. Jamie Drysdale, who was flying all night, sent a shot-pass down to a wide-open Konecny in front. He tried to score on the backhand, flicking it on Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko, but was stopped.

But there’s no quit in Konecny, and after turning to face the net, he realized not only did he have the puck, but he was still alone. While falling, he flicked it past Demko on the forehand to give him his 34th point in 38 games; he later added an assist on Christian Dvorak’s empty-netter to extend the Flyers’ lead to 6-3.

Breakaways

O’Connor scored for Vancouver in the third period to make it 3-2, and Tom Willander scored with under two minutes in regulation to make it 5-3. … Owen Tippett notched a short-handed empty-net goal to make it 5-2. It was his 12th goal of the season and third in the past five games. … Defenseman Noah Juulsen was a healthy scratch in his return to Vancouver. … Dan Vladař was stellar once again in net, stopping 32 shots, including Marco Rossi from right in front in the middle frame and Evander Kane on a breakaway in the third. … Nick Seeler dropped the gloves with Kane early in the first period after the Canucks forward hit him high along the end boards. They had to be separated again in the third period during a TV timeout. … Sean Couturier won 13 of the 17 face-offs he took, tying his season high winning percentage of 76.5, set Dec. 18 against the Buffalo Sabres.

Up next

The Flyers get right back to it with a New Year’s Eve matchup in the Canadian Rockies against the Flames (9:30 p.m., NBCSP)

VANCOUVER, British Columbia ― Rome wasn’t built in a day, and after years of ineptitude, neither was the Flyers’ power play.

But like a phoenix, it is rising slowly from the ashes. Entering Tuesday’s matchup against Rick Tocchet’s former team, the Vancouver Canucks (10 p.m., NBCSP), the Flyers’ power play is ranked 25th in the NHL (16.3%).

Hey, it’s not last.

“It’s been OK,” Tocchet said. “I mean, there’s been good movement. I just think there’s reads there. We have to understand, when the team’s topping down on you [when the F1 is attacking and leaving space], when you’re turning a diamond into a box, what are the plays in it?

“Think we’re missing a couple. I think [if] we just read them a little bit quicker, I think we’re going to get better chances. But I do think the movement has been better, and that’s a positive.”

On Sunday night in Seattle, the power play — especially the unit that is spearheaded by Trevor Zegras, Jamie Drysdale, and Travis Konecny — moved the puck well. That unit had several good looks, with Zegras setting up Drysdale at the point more than once for one-timers and almost connecting with Konecny backdoor.

Tocchet likes the pairing of the former Anaheim Ducks teammates, with Zegras on the right flank and Drysdale at the point — specifically for that big shot.

“I just think with Trevor, he has the puck a lot, [and] you want a righty for the one timer. I think that’s big,” Tocchet said, speaking of the lefty Zegras and the righty Drysdale.

“The one-timer on the top is a really big play, especially against a diamond format. So it’s really hard for the lefty to get that shot through. That doesn’t mean you can’t do it, it’s just we’re trying to develop Jamie into that guy as a right-lefty look.”

But after going 0-for-3 in that 4-1 loss to the Kraken — which had the worst penalty kill in the NHL at the time — there have been a few tweaks.

The newest iterations have Cam York, Matvei Michkov, Owen Tippett, Noah Cates, and either Bobby Brink or Travis Sanheim on one unit and Zegras, Drysdale, Konecny, Denver Barkey, and, now, Christian Dvorak on the other.

Dvorak has one job now — attack the net.

“I’m not going to lie. I think we’re one of the worst teams with net-front and screens and stuff,” Tocchet said. “We need some people to start going to the net, and I know Dvo will go to the net. So, it’s a shot in the right direction.

“It’s not even power play, it’s five-on-five. We’ve got to start getting more interior play. In saying that, I do like the puck movement. I love our D, the way they move on the blue line, things like that are good. It’s just we’ve got to start getting people in front.”

It’s interesting that entering the holiday break, the Flyers scored eight goals across the last two games, with one on the power play. According to Natural Stat Trick, six of those tallies came right around the net, including the power-play goal by Cates, who is the net-front presence on his unit, against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Dvorak also scored one of those goals — his was against the Canucks — and guess where it came from. Yep, it came from right in front after he drove to the net.

“You see a lot of goals in the league, especially on the power play, whether tips, rebounds, backdoor plays, things like that. So, it’s kind of important in all areas, whether it’s five-on-five or power play,” Dvorak said.

“We looked at some numbers today that we need to be in front of the net, get some more screened shots, and rebound opportunities at five-on-five and, sure, power play, too. That’s where, you know, a lot of goals are scored in this league. So I like being there, yeah.”

Natural Stat Trick has Dvorak tied for eighth in the NHL with 48 high-danger chances at five-on-five, and when he is on the ice, the Flyers have 17 high-danger goals. NHL Edge says 44 of his 65 shots at all strengths have come from around the blue paint, with three of the four locations in the 81st-99th percentile.

Aside from Barkey, who will skate in just his fifth NHL game on Tuesday, Dvorak has the fewest power-play minutes among those on the man advantage (14 minutes, 19 seconds this season).

But it’s pretty obvious he likes to be around the net and has been successful there, and the Flyers need that on the power play.

“I think the main thing we talked about is just attacking, attacking when there’s an opportunity, when you got them tired, and just making sure we have guys at the net,” Dvorak said.

“If I’m out there, that’s kind of the thing I’ll try to do there, is be in front and whether it’s rebounds, tips, or just screening on the goalie, just to do whatever the job is.”

Breakaways

Goalie Dan Vladař (13-6-3, .909 save percentage) will get the start against the Canucks, a team he stopped 23 of 25 shots against in a 5-2 win on Dec. 22. … The game in Vancouver is not just a return for Tocchet but for Noah Juulsen. The defenseman, who grew up in nearby Abbotsford and suited up for Everett of the Western Hockey League, played 109 games for the Canucks across four seasons. He will be a healthy scratch. Juulsen played 27 games for the Flyers this season, registering a goal and four assists, before Rasmus Ristolainen returned from injury. … Forwards Garnet Hathaway and Nic Deslauriers are also expected to be healthy scratches.

SEATTLE ― The Flyers have played five times at Climate Pledge Arena and have skated away with one win.

And it wasn’t on Sunday. They lost, 4-1, to the Seattle Kraken to kick-start the team’s annual Disney On Ice road trip.

The only time the Flyers did win — a 3-2 overtime victory — was on Dec. 29, 2021. It was the Kraken’s first NHL season.

Here is the good, the bad, and the ugly from Sunday’s loss.

The good: The fourth line

Coach Rick Tocchet likes rolling four lines consistently, and why not when you have a fourth line of Nikita Grebenkin, Carl Grundström, and Rodrigo Ābols that is showing speed, strength, defensive acumen, and a scoring touch?

“Well, some speed and possession,” Tocchet said during his pregame availability about the fourth line. “They’re holding on to pucks, and they’re making plays, you know? And I think that’s important. You wear other teams down.

“I haven’t been afraid to use them in D-zone faceoffs. They’re getting their minutes, but they’re earning it too, right? If we have a little bit of a lull in our game — and I’ve started them, actually, in some games too — I see some excitement. I see excitement from the other guys when they see the fourth line doing well. It’s really infectious.”

The line has been together for three games and almost 27 minutes at five-on-five, but while opponents have a 28-24 majority in chances, the Flyers trio is outscoring them, 3-0.

On Sunday, Grundström broke through on Kraken netminder Philipp Grubauer late in the game to get the Flyers on the board. He sent a blistering wrister from just inside the left faceoff circle to extend his goal-scoring streak to three games.

Although the fourth line was on the ice for an empty-netter against, it controlled play for the most part, had nine shot attempts to 10 against, three scoring chances vs. two for the Kraken, and did not allow a high-danger chance.

The trio also drew a power play after it sustained a strong forecheck and pressured the Kraken in the first period.

The bad: The power play

There’s a reason the power play isn’t listed as ugly because, despite not scoring, it really wasn’t that dreadful. The two five-man units actually moved the puck well, especially Trevor Zegras, Noah Cates, Bobby Brink, Jamie Drysdale, and Travis Konecny.

But when you have three power-play opportunities against the league’s worst penalty kill (70.3% entering the game), you need to score.

“When we have shots from the point, or we go downhill in the shots, everybody’s on the perimeter,” Tocchet said. “Too perimeter tonight, that was the bottom line. That’s the only criticism for the team.

“… For most of the night, I thought we controlled a fair amount of the play, but you get three power plays, you’ve got to find a way, and you’ve got to find a way to score. That’s net-front goals, rebound goals. I don’t think we grabbed the rebound. So another learning thing that we’ve got to make sure.”

It’s true. The Flyers’ power play controlled play and had several good looks. Drysdale was stopped twice on point shots before Zegras sent a cross-crease pass to Konecny, who was robbed. Denver Barkey made a play after nice puck movement to set up Owen Tippett, and the youngster had a chance seconds after the final power play ended.

The Flyers have just 59.2% of offensive zone time on the power play, whereas the best team, the Vegas Golden Knights, has 62.3%. Based on Sunday’s power plays, there is a chance that they have jumped up. Now the Flyers have to score.

The ugly: Lack of net presence

In the last two games before the holiday break, each a win, the Flyers scored a total of eight goals. According to Natural Stat Trick, six of those came right around the net.

Although the statistical site says that they had 4.17+ attempts around the net, it didn’t feel like they were able to take away the eyes of Grubauer.

“Yeah, thought we controlled most of the game and just couldn’t find a way to get one,” defenseman Travis Sanheim said. “We weren’t getting enough traffic when a goalie’s seeing it that well, got to get in front of them and deliver pucks, and then we make a couple mistakes, and unfortunate that we can’t come out with a win there.”

The Kraken goalie made several easy saves with his glove, as he was able to see the puck well. The Flyers had four rebound attempts, with Sean Couturier and Konecny leading the way with three high-danger chances each.

“Maybe we gave him some easy looks at times,“ Couturier said. ”This may be the only, I think, negative, maybe we can say. But overall, I thought we played a good game, just didn’t capitalize when we had chances, and they did. So it could have went one way or the other, if we score one or two goals there at some point in the game.”

Added defenseman Nick Seeler: “I think we need a little bit more traffic going to the net, get guys to the net when we’re trying to shoot from the points here, and hopefully get a few more deflection goals and things like that. But I think our forwards did a really good job forechecking tonight and hanging on to pucks, and so that’s a positive.”

SEATTLE ― The Flyers won’t want to throw it away, all right, but there are parts of this game they’ll prefer not to see again.

In their first game after the NHL’s mandatory three-day holiday break, they fell to the Seattle Kraken, 4-1 on Sunday. The loss snapped a two-game winning streak and is Philly’s third loss in its past five games. They are 5-4-4 in December.

Carl Grundström scored with less than two minutes left in regulation to help the Flyers avoid getting shut out for the second time this season. He beat Philipp Grubauer short-side to extend his goal-scoring streak to three games.

Jordan Eberle gave the Kraken a 1-0 lead 3 minutes, 48 seconds into the second period. The Kraken’s captain snuck down the middle and was left untouched as he received a pass from Kaapo Kakko. A former New York Islander, Eberle now has 12 goals and 30 points in 37 regular-season games against the Flyers.

Seattle’s Chandler Stephenson made it 2-0 in the third period as he crashed the net. Flyers goalie Dan Vladař played the puck behind the net, and Eeli Tolvanen got it from Travis Sanheim. The Finnish forward sent it to Stephenson in front for the easy tally.

Entering the night, the Flyers’ power play was ranked 24th in the NHL, and it had chances to tie things up. They were facing the league’s worst penalty kill (70.3%), but despite having three-man advantages, they were unable to get on the board with extended offensive zone time.

Across the power plays, Philly had nine shot attempts, with six needing Grubauer to make the save.

On the first one, drawn by Nikita Grebenkin, Jamie Drysdale had a pair of shots off setups from Trevor Zegras. Seconds after Drysdale’s second shot, Travis Konecny received a cross-crease pass from Zegras and was stoned by a sliding Grubauer. That power play started to even the ice as the Kraken came out with their legs.

And then Denver Barkey continued to prove he is an NHLer as he used his motor to drive past Ryan Lindgren for a breakaway. The Seattle defenseman wrapped up Barkey, who still got a shot on goal as he drew the holding penalty.

The best chance on that power play was by Noah Cates from the middle of the ice after good puck movement. And on the final man advantage of the night, thanks to a too many men penalty against the Kraken, the best chance was by Owen Tippett after Barkey made a strong play to get him the puck

The Flyers put 32 shots on goal, including 14 in the third period. The biggest issue for the Flyers on Sunday was the fact that Grubauer was able to see the puck well. Compared to their past two wins, the Flyers weren’t going to the net often enough and even when they did, the Kraken blocked 17 shots — several from atop the crease.

Breakaways

The Kraken added two empty-netters by Tolvanen. … Zegras had his point streak end at 10 games (five goals, six assists). … Forwards Garnet Hathaway and Nic Deslauriers, and defenseman Noah Juulsen were healthy scratches.

Up next

The Flyers head a few short hours north to Rick Tocchet and Juulsen’s old stamping ground to take on the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday (10 p.m., NBCSP).

SEATTLE ― According to coach Rick Tocchet, the Flyers “dodged a bullet” when it comes to the health of two players.

Travis Sanheim, the team’s top defenseman, was clipped by Chicago Blackhawks blueliner Alex Vlasic in the third period of the Flyers’ 3-1 win on Dec. 23. He did not play the final 12 minutes, 33 seconds, after being pulled by the NHL’s concussion spotters. At the time, Tocchet said, “I think he’s fine.”

But there was a little bit more concern for forward Denver Barkey, who did not return for the entire final frame after he was hit hard in the ensuing scrum following his boarding call. Tocchet said after the game that Barkey would be reevaluated by the doctors.

After a long plane ride Saturday morning from Philly, both players were full participants at Climate Pledge Arena for the team’s practice following the NHL’s mandatory three-day holiday break.

“They both are good,” Tocchet said. “I think Sanny was fine. It was just the spotter. And then I think, Barkey, he just kind of had a headache, but it’s gone away. So he’s pretty good.”

Barkey, who was injured in just his third NHL game, was back alongside his linemates Owen Tippett and Sean Couturier.

“Feeling good,” he said afterward. “Obviously, taking it day by day, but feeling really good right now. And, yeah, I was excited to get home to see family and friends as well.”

A native of Newmarket, Ontario, where he went for two of the three days off, Barkey should be sticking around the Flyers for the foreseeable future. He has brought a spark to not just his linemates but the power play — one assist at five-on-five and one with the man advantage — and the bench.

“He’s got a lot of hockey sense. Good kid. So I’ve enjoyed seeing him,” said Travis Konecny, who chuckled and said the youngster “is way smarter than I was” when told that Flyers director of player development Riley Armstrong called Barkey “a little mini TK” over the summer.

“I think he’s one of those guys who, once you see him in the NHL, he’s a hard guy to send down. He does a lot of the little things right, and it seems like he’s ready.”

Barkey just turned pro this season, but has London of the Ontario Hockey League close to his heart — literally. He sports a silver chain and pendant etched with the Knights logo on one side and 86, his number in juniors, on the other. It was a gift from a jeweler in London, Ontario, after he was named the team’s recipient of the Don Brankley Community Service Award this year. Barkey was also awarded the Dan Snyder Memorial Trophy, presented annually to the OHL’s Humanitarian of the Year.

But while he’s just 20 years old and a newbie to the pro ranks, he has “always kind of taken it pretty serious and try to prepare every game quite similarly.”

“Obviously, it’s a really surreal experience, and there’s a lot going on, a lot of moving parts,” he said of his NHL start. “But I keep saying, I think a lot of the credit goes to coaches and all the guys in this room.

“They’ve made it easy for me, just make me feel at home and comfortable coming to the rink every day. So, yeah, it’s been fun, and just looking to continue to grow as a person [and] player throughout this experience.”

We’ll see if he’s still calling it fun when the NHL reaches its mandatory break for the upcoming 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics. Beginning with Sunday’s game against the Seattle Kraken (8 p.m., NBCSP), the Flyers will play 20 games in 40 nights.

It’ll be a grind that includes 11 games on the road, and three back-to-back sets. The last game before the break is Feb. 5 against the Ottawa Senators, and the Flyers don’t hit the ice again for a game until Feb. 25 at the Washington Capitals — the first of a back-to-back.

“When it comes to it, you’re playing basically every other night. There’s not a lot of these two- [or] three-day breaks. So, that’s why it’s important that we crammed in the system stuff,” Tocchet said after the lengthy practice.

“You still have other ways to do it; we might do hotel meetings, things like that, to make sure that we were up to speed. But, you know, everybody’s dealing with it, so there are really no excuses.”

Flyers prospects at the 2026 World Juniors

Porter Martone, Jett Luchanko, and the Canadians opened the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship with two straight victories — each with a tinge of revenge and redemption.

On Friday night, they beat Czechia 7-5; Canada lost the past two years in the quarterfinals to the European nation. On Saturday, they topped Latvia 2-1 in overtime after the nation, which is Rodrigo Abōls’ home country, beat Canada 3-2 last year.

Speaking of Abōls, his father Artis Abōls is the head coach of the Latvian side at this year’s tournament.

Luchanko has yet to register a point and has a plus-minus of minus-3. Martone, the team’s captain, has one goal in two games. He issued an apology on Saturday after tapping a Czech player on his backside while skating to the bench after scoring his empty-netter.

“That’s unacceptable, and that can’t happen,” he told reporters in Minnesota. “As the captain of this team, the leader of this team, it just sets a bad [example] for the rest of the guys. That’s on me, and I can’t do that. It’s a learning experience, it’s in the past now, but yeah, I take full responsibility for the actions I took yesterday.”

Martone was also handed a formal warning by the IIHF for his actions during warmups on Friday night, when he crossed the red line and bumped players.

A teammate of Martone’s at Michigan State, Vansaghi played in the first game for USA Hockey, a 6-3 win versus Germany, as the extra forward and skated just over 5 minutes. He was a healthy scratch for Saturday. Heikki Ruohonen and Max Westergård each had an assist in Finland’s 6-2 win against Denmark on Friday, and Sweden captain Jack Berglund chipped in an assist in a 3-2 win over Slovakia.