It’s not a great start for the Philadelphia Flyers this season. In the middle of their first preseason game — their very first bit of actual game action — they have lost a fairly important young player to injury.
Denver Barkey has suffered a lower-body injury during this 2026-27 preseason debut against the Washington Capitals in Hershey, PA, and as announced by the Flyers, he will not return to the game.
Barkey was first doubtful to be in full health when he came out during the second period, took the opening draw, but after just a few seconds went back to the bench and down the tunnel to get looked at by the trainers. Shortly after that, he was officially ruled out for the rest of the game.
While there is no defining or obvious moment for when the injury happened, it was quickly speculated that a big-time hit along the boards from Capitals defenseman Martin Fehervary was the kicking off point and is eventually what caused Barkey’s injury.
It’s not something that instantly made us cringe due to how violent it was, but Barkey certainly did get crunched along the boards while trying to make an offensive play.
Ouch. As you can see, Barkey did end up skating away and didn’t immediately clutch anything to make his injury obvious, but that is a play where a defender can do some damage, especially against someone Barkey’s size. Since it is a lower-body injury, we can only speculate that something got mangled or twisted as Barkey was on his way down to the ice due to the hit.
Or, it’s a completely different collision and we’re just really trying to speculate and remember any big hits that Barkey suffered during the game. Head coach Rick Tocchet will surely have more information regarding Barkey’s status after the game, but it might not be that great.
Flyers lose a whole lot of depth in Denver Barkey
Hopefully, the Flyers just decided that a preseason game in an AHL arena is not worth putting Barkey back out there to try and battle through something. Because after all, he is a valuable addition to this team and is already a pretty vital piece in the Flyers lineup to keep their depth alive.
Barkey isn’t as pivotal as some of the Flyers’ top forwards but he certainly makes a whole lot of their plans work. Ever since he made his NHL debut last season, Barkey has defied the odds and is now someone so rooted in the Flyers’ top nine that it feels odd to not have him in the lineup, providing that same doggedness that everyone appreciates so much.
Add in the fact that throughout this training camp and to start his (possibly brief) preseason, the 21-year-old forward was playing center — it only increases his importance to this team as an incredibly versatile player. Even if he hardly plays down the middle, the option is always there in case someone gets injured, but now we’re losing some of that because of his own injury.
In 43 games for the Flyers last season, Barkey scored five goals and 17 points while averaging just 13:24 time-on-ice.
The Flyers go up to Boston to face the Bruins in the second half of a back-to-back, and we have to imagine it will be the other half of training camp participating in that one anyways. Flyers continue their preseason with a game on Thursday, as they host the Bruins this time, before closing out their exhibition schedule next Saturday against these Capitals.
