May 16, 2024

Flyers prospect check: Oliver Bonk, Denver Barkey complete London Knights' push to OHL title

Bonk, Barkey, and a dominant London Knights team completed a sweep of the Oshawa Generals to capture the OHL Championship while showing Flyers fans a lot of promise for the future.

By Nick Tricome
PhillyVoice Staff

Flyers prospects Oliver Bonk, Denver Barkey, and the London Knights completed their dominant run to the OHL Championship on Wednesday night, beating the Oshawa Generals in a 4-0 series sweep.

The Knights jumped out to a convincing 2-0 lead with the first two games in London, outscoring Oshawa 17-2 across both contests, then followed up with a massive comeback in Game 3 and a blowout in Game 4 to close out.

Throughout, Bonk – the Flyers' 22nd overall pick in last summer's draft – and Barkey – a third-rounder at 95th overall – were major presences on the ice.

In Game 3's 7-6 rally in double overtime on Monday, Bonk, with the Knights down 6-2, scored off of a feed in front of the net all alone to kickstart what would become a run of four unanswered goals in the third to tie it.

Bonk in the bumper@NHLFlyers | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/fasnFWeuLw
— London Knights (@LondonKnights) May 14, 2024

The 19-year old defenseman went on to assist on two of the three goals that followed in the comeback effort that put London on the brink.

Then, on Wednesday night in the series clincher, it was Barkey's turn.

LET'S GOOOO DENVER!!@NHLFlyers | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/rCQP7NFpfp
— London Knights (@LondonKnights) May 16, 2024

And the Knights were on their way to a celebration.

Barkey had five points in total across the final two games and 27 in total for London's entire playoff run (6 goals and 21 assists in 18 postseason games).

Across the board, the 19-year old, undersized forward took off this season (granted, on a very stacked junior team) with a 35-goal, 102-point regular season.

He'll definitely be one of the bigger names to keep an eye on at the Flyers' development camp later in the summer.

And so will Bonk as a smooth-skating, two-way defenseman who at least projects to be a top-four capable blueliner in the NHL.

Bonk is still likely a few years off as goalies and defensemen are often the last to really hit their strides in development, but he did take a significant jump this season, especially offensively.

Bonk scored 24 goals and 67 points during the regular season at a plus-28 rate, with 15 of his goals (well above half) coming on the power play. The Knights made the unconventional call to move Bonk down from the point into the bumper spot closer to the net while on the man advantage this year, and it paid off in a big way, while giving Flyers fans something to daydream about with the anemic power play that's at the NHL level here and now.

In the playoffs, Bonk put up 16 points (7 goals, nine assists) and a plus-16 rating in 18 games to help send London cruising to the title – the Knights went a staggering 16-2 for the entire postseason.

And hopefully, in a few years' time, Bonk and Barkey will be up in the NHL helping the Flyers try to push for much greater.