Flyers ready to return to full strength as a grueling stretch awaits ahead of the Winter Olympics

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.”

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.

» READ MORE: Top prospect Porter Martone ‘can’t wait’ to play for the Flyers. But first, he has a couple of championships to win

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.

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