By Jesse Larch, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
As the NHL season prepares to come to a close, fans and pundits alike will begin to forecast how the offseason will play out.
Flyers general manager Ron Hextall will once again be faced with some interesting challenges when it comes to building the roster. Each year of Hextall's tenure has seen more and more players claim their spots as members of the team's core, like Wayne Simmonds, Jake Voracek, Brayden Schenn, and Ivan Provorov.
This upcoming offseason should be when Hextall stops looking to add players and put the team's youth movement into full swing.
The first argument comes from the newest Flyer who will be selected with the second overall pick in this year's NHL Entry Draft. The Flyers are expected add one of Nolan Patrick or Nico Hischier. Both players are viewed as elite talents, and figure to be a part of the Flyers core for the long-term.
Adding a player of this caliber allows the Flyers to forego adding a short-term veteran player since the draftee could easily be playing in the NHL directly after being drafted.
While the Flyers offense was dormant for most of the season, and the defense frequently left fans scratching their heads, the Flyers will have plenty of help on the way. From last season, we already know that Michael Del Zotto and Nick Schultz are not expected to be with the team in 2017-18.
The absence of these two players opens the door for the Flyers' plethora of defensive prospects to breakthrough to the NHL. Sam Morin and Robert Hagg both played a game with the Flyers last season and performed well. The Flyers should opt to lean on their young defenders over looking for veteran help this season.
The more call-ups the team uses, the less restricted the team will be financially. Instead of paying inflated market prices for defensemen, the team can pay players on two-way deals and entry-level deals to provide better value if the prospects reach their potential. Aside from Morin and Hagg, the team also has Travis Sanheim and Philippe Myers, who have been impressive and should get long looks in training camp.
The Flyers should use the same approach to fix the offense, although the prospect pool is not as deep on offense as defense.
In addition to Hischier or Patrick joining the fold, winger Oskar Lindblom looks like a strong candidate to earn a spot on the roster.
Lindblom, 20, is coming off of a year in which he was named the top forward in the Swedish Hockey League, one of the best hockey leagues in the world. Lindblom scored 22 goals and 25 assists in 52 games for Brynas. He is expected to make the jump to North America full-time next season after scoring seven points in eight games for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in 2015-16.
Flyers 2016 first round pick German Rubtsov should also earn a long look in training camp after eloping to the QMJHL from the KHL and scoring 22 points in 16 games for Chicoutimi to go along with a strong two-way game.
The Flyers have plenty of options to fill out the roster with players in their own system. All a veteran signing would do is clog the depth chart and keep a player who figures to be a part of the team's future from gaining valuable experience. The Flyers have more affordable options in players on entry-level contracts that give them the cap flexibility that the team has lacked for years. Any veteran addition in free agency would put the team closer to the cap ceiling than any of the young players in the Flyers' system, without adding the upside that comes with the fresh face of a prospect.
Whether it is a player like Hischier or Patrick, Rubtsov or Lindblom to round out the top-nine forwards and Morin, Hagg, Sanheim or Myers playing on defense, or even a Phantoms contributor like Taylor Leier or Scott Laughton getting a call-up to eat up fourth line minutes, the Flyers should not find it necessary to look outside of the system to build next year's roster.
