Farm Report Three Stars: Barkey Regains Bite

Here are three standout players in the Flyers farm system over the past week. Stats are accurate through the games of November 18, 2024.

First Star: Denver Barkey (LW, London Knights, OHL) -- A bout with mononucleosis cost the 2023 third-round pick a chance to show his progress from last year at Rookie Camp and NHL camp. It may also have contributed to something of a slow start to the regular season after Barkey produced a stellar draft-plus-one season for the Ontario Hockey League champion London Knights.

Now the captain of the Knights, Barkey had just two points (0g, 2a) through the first six games of the regular season. This was to be expected as he needed time to regain his strength and timing.

Since that time, Barkey has started to get closer to the form he displayed in racking up 102 points (35 goals, 67 assists) in the regular season last year, plus 27 points (6g, 21a) in 18 playoff games. He emerged as a threat to strike in any manpower situation.

Barkey has posted at least one point in seven of his last nine games, including six multi-point games. He is coming off a tremendous weekend, following up a four-assist performance against the Sarnia Sting last Friday with a goal and an assist against the Guelph Storm.

Overall this season, Barkey is now at 17 points (2g, 15a) in 15 games played. The Knights have posted a 15-4-0 record to date.

Second Star: Noah Powell (W, Ohio State, NCAA) -- The 19-year-old power forward is getting his feet wet in NCAA hockey, being incorporated as a freshman into the Ohio State Buckeyes (Big-10) lineup through the first nine games of the season.

Last Friday night, in a 5-2 win over Lindenwood, Powell notched his first collegiate goal in spectacular fashion. He pulled off a spin move in the attack zone, cut across the left circle and fired home a shot to the glove side.

Playing in the USHL last season for the Dubuque Fighting Saints, Powell led the league with 43 goals and ranked fifth in total points (74) in the generally low-scoring circuit. Look for Powell's production to spike as his college freshman season progresses. Fellow Flyers prospect Cole Knuble followed a similar path last season at Notre Dame. He broke out in the second half last year and now has 13 points (6g, 7a) through the first 10 games of his sophomore season.

Third Star -- Alex Bump (W, Western Michigan, NCAA): The highly skilled Western Michigan Broncos forward, who celebrates his 21st birthday on Nov. 20, has averaged a point per game through the first eight games (3g, 5a) of the collegiate season. He had a nice assist on a Tristan Lemyre goal to start a comeback from a 2-0 deficit in last Friday's 3-2 overtime victory against Colorado College. The Broncos are 6-1-1 overall this season.

Coming up this weekend: Western Michigan will play in-conference (NCHC) road games in Duluth on Friday and Saturday against the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Last week's Three Stars: Updates

1. Jett Luchanko (C, Guelph Storm, OHL): The Flyers 2024 first-round pick followed up his four-assist performance in a losing cause against Guelph on Nov. 10 with a two-goal, three-point game against the Niagara Ice Dogs last Friday.

Over a four-game stretch, Luchanko racked up four-goals, six assists and eight points. London held him off the scoresheet in Saturday's rematch in Guelph. Overall, he has 11 points (4g, 7a) in eight games since returning from the Flyers to his junior team.

2. Yegor Zavragin (G, SKA St. Petersburg, KHL): The 19-year-old netminder, who has taken over as the primary starting goaltender for one of the highest profile teams outside the NHL. Last Wednesday, Zavragin recorded his third shutout of the KHL regular season (second with SKA) in a 1-0 (1-0) shootout win over Sibir Novosibirsk. He also went 5-for-5 in denying shootout attempts.

Zavragin followed it up by stopping 42 of 45 shots in a 3-2 overtime road loss to Ak Bars Kazan. Since being recalled from his intra-league loan to HC Sochi, Zavragin has posted a 2.32 GAA, and .924 save percent in 13 games for SKA.

3. Samu Tuomaala (RW, Phantoms, AHL): The Phantoms had a tough weekend, concluding a three-in-four gauntlet with divisional game losses to Springfield (road) on Friday and the defending Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears (home) on Saturday. Second-year winger Tuomaala, however, kept right on rolling offensively.

The Finnish winger sniped a goal against the Thunderbirds on Friday and helped trigger a comeback bid against Hershey on Saturday with a three-point (1g, 2a) performance. Tuomaala has an active five-game point streak (3g, 5a) and has posted 16 points (6g, 10a) overall through 14 games for Ian Laperriere's club.

Laperriere was the special guest on the Nov. 19 edition of the Flyers Daily podcast. He discussed the progress of Tuomaala, recently called up defenseman Helge Grans, Ethan Samson and other prospects on the Phantoms as well as the team's overall performance.