Flyers prospects Denver Barkey, Oliver Bonk get invited to the World Junior Summer Showcase

Denver Barkey sat at the podium at Flyers development camp a few weeks ago in Voorhees and let it slip that he was among the 42 players invited to join Hockey Canada’s roster at the World Junior Summer Showcase.

If there was ever a Michael Jordan-esque “I’m back” moment for the Flyers prospect, this was it.

“I’m going to go back there and try to prove to them that I deserve to be on the team this year,” the 19-year-old forward said. ”And I’m going to do everything in my power to show them that the week that I’m there.”

The Summer Showcase, set for July 26-Aug. 3 at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Mich., is the first step toward Canada, the United States, Sweden, and Finland building their squads for the World Junior tournament that begins on Dec. 26 in Ottawa. Barkey was one of the last cuts for the 2024 edition.

“To not make it was heartbreaking,” said Barkey, who was drafted by the Flyers in the third round last year. “You know, a tough couple of days for me, it stung a bit, but you’ve got to move on. And my goal was to prove them wrong and use that to fuel the fire. So, after I got cut there, I kind of used it as motivation for the rest of the season to prove them wrong and just continue to grow as a player and a person.”

The London Knights forward finished tied for fourth in the Ontario Hockey League in points (102), third in assists (67), and buried the puck 35 times during the regular season. He’ll get a chance to showcase his skills alongside four of his fellow Flyers prospects: Jett Luchanko, Oliver Bonk, Carter Sotheran, and Carson Bjarnason.

» READ MORE: Bonk and Barkey have become ‘brothers and really close friends’

His London teammate Bonk, who manned the blue line for Canada at the 2024 World Junior tournament, will get a chance at his own revenge. One of six players returning from Canada’s fifth-place team, he saw Czechia’s game-winning goal go in off his stick with little more than 11 seconds left in the quarterfinals.

“A pretty resilient kid. … A good thing and a big thing for us was how he responded,” assistant director of player development Nick Schultz said of Bonk in early July. And Bonk did respond. Nicknamed “Bumper Bonk,” he was the top defenseman in power-play goals in the OHL, scoring 15 of his 24 goals with the man advantage. He posted 67 points in 60 regular-season games, including five shorthanded assists, and finished at plus-28.

A guy who Brandon head coach Marty Murray said should compete for a spot on the World Junior team, Bjarnason will get a second chance to play for Canada. He tended goal at the 2022 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, playing behind Bonk and Barkey. Fellow Manitoban Sotheran will get a chance to make the team for the first time in his career.

Luchanko skated for Canada at the U18 world championship where he notched seven points in seven games for the championship squad.

“I think at the Under-18 World Championship, he was really able to showcase what kind of value he could bring to an NHL team because he was just as good defensively as he was offensively; maybe even better defensively at times,” FloHockey analyst Chris Peters told The Inquirer after the Flyers drafted Luchanko 13th overall on June 28. “I think you’ve got a guy with some jam and some grit, and that makes up for the lack of size. And then he also can fly, so I think that you get skill and you get speed and you get that work ethic.”

Other Flyers prospects will be at the tournament. Noah Powell (U.S.) and Jack Berglund (Sweden) were named to the showcase in mid-June.