By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Flyers have a week left in their regular season, but are certainly keeping a close eye on the future. The near future may have a playoff appearance in it. The long-term future is about the players still to come that will complete a rebuild.
The Flyers already have a young roster with players earning valued experience in the heart of a playoff race. The Flyers are also ensuring that their recent draft picks are a part of that future.
For the past couple of weeks, the Flyers have put an emphasis on signing recent draft picks to entry-level deals.
In March alone, the Flyers signed Carsen Twarynski, Maksim Sushko, Matthew Strome and Felix Sandstrom to entry-level deals. It is expected that two more prospects — Tanner Laczynski and Wade Allison — could also sign entry-level deals in the weeks to come.
The Flyers have really stocked up on prospects in the last four draft years. From the 2014 NHL Draft to the 2017 NHL Draft, the Flyers made 33 selections in the draft. Of the 33 prospects selected, 19 have been signed to entry-level deals.
Here’s a closer look by draft year.
2014
The Flyers made six selections in the 2014 NHL Draft and signed all six prospects to entry-level deals over the next several years. The class is currently headlined by two NHL players, Travis Sanheim (1st) and Oskar Lindblom (5th).
Three other prospects are playing in the AHL with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms — Nicolas Aube-Kubel (2nd), Mark Friedman (3rd) and Radel Fazleev (6th).
The Flyers had also signed seventh-round pick Jesper Pettersson, but he returned to the SHL in 2017 and the Flyers no longer have his rights.
2015
The Flyers drafted eight players in the 2015 NHL Draft and have signed four of them so far. The 2015 class was headed by Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny in the first round. They are the only players from the 2015 Draft currently playing with the Flyers.
Fourth-round pick Mikhail Vorobyev is playing with the Phantoms. Third-round pick Felix Sandstrom signed his entry-level deal earlier this week and is playing in the SHL.
The Flyers still have the rights to third-round pick Matej Tomek, fifth-round pick David Kase and seventh-round pick Ivan Fedotov. Kase and Fedotov are playing in European leagues. Tomek is still at the college and USHL ranks.
Fourth-round pick Samuel Dove-McFalls was not signed and the Flyers lost his rights as he re-entered the NHL Draft in 2017 and was not selected.
2016
The Flyers largest draft class in the last four years comes in the 2016 NHL Draft class. The Flyers made 10 selections that year and have signed five of those picks already.
Their first three selections — German Rubtsov, Pascal Laberge and Carter Hart — are all currently playing in the CHL Playoffs. Carsen Twarynski signed earlier this month and was recently eliminated from the WHL Playoffs with Kelowna. He could be joining the Phantoms within the week. Fourth-round pick Connor Bunnaman is also signed.
Two other prospects in the 2016 Draft could soon be signing. Wade Allison finished his most recent season with Western Michigan. Tanner Laczynski is preparing to play in the Frozen Four next weekend and could sign once the tournament is over.
Fifth-round pick Linus Hogberg is playing in the SHL, as is seventh-round pick David Bernhardt. Sixth-round pick Anthony Salinitri is currently with Sarnia in the OHL Playoffs and remains unsigned.
2017
The Flyers made nine selections at the 2017 NHL Draft and have already made quick work in signing several of them.
Obviously, Nolan Patrick headlines this group and made the Flyers roster in his draft year. First-round pick Morgan Frost and second-round pick Isaac Ratcliffe were also signed shortly after the draft.
In the past month, the Flyers have also locked up fourth-round picks Maksim Sushko and Matthew Strome.
This leaves third-round pick Kirill Ustimenko, fifth-round pick Noah Cates, sixth-round pick Olle Lycksell and seventh-round pick Wyatt Kalynuk as the only unsigned players in the most recent draft class. Ustimenko and Lycksell are playing in European leagues. Cates is splitting time between high school and the USHL. Kalynuk is playing at the college ranks.
