By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Today, tomorrow and years from now, the player everyone will remember from the Flyers draft picks in 2017 is Nolan Patrick.
That pick was a no-brainer for GM Ron Hextall. The other eight players Hextall added were not so cut and dry.
Hextall made three trades on draft weekend, sending Brayden Schenn to St. Louis to move back into the first round, trading up in the second round and trading their second seventh-round pick for a seventh-round pick in 2018.
While the Schenn trade may mar part of Hextall's weekend, the Flyers spent the majority of the weekend trying to address the forward pipeline again. Patrick helps it almost immediately. Players like Morgan Frost and Isaac Ratcliffe are the ones soon to be waiting in the wings. Matthew Strome and Noah Cates are long-term projects with high potential.
Overall, Hextall emerged from the weekend on the winning end because he drafted well, at least in the here and now based on small sample size of prospects. But while his deal centered around Schenn brings into question the Flyers short-term success, it is a move that propelled the Flyers into the future.
Some of the benefits of Hextall's 2017 Draft could come as soon as October if Patrick is in the lineup as expected.
But did the Flyers get better out of the draft? The answer always remains to be seen with prospects, but the trade of Schenn could be a short-term setback for the Flyers.
Replacing Schenn's 25 goals and power play success now becomes a must for the Flyers. It's not going to come from Jori Lehtera, the player included in the Schenn deal from the Blues. It's going to rest on the shoulders of the kids.
While Hextall's seemingly public proclamation that there is a need to open up spots for prospects is refreshing, the way he did it isn't likely what people had in mind. Completing a trade that centers on your second-highest scorer from a season ago who is also just 26 does not send a message about trying to contend now.
But it does send a wakeup call.
Jake Voracek said after the season ended that if the Flyers didn't make the playoffs next season, the core could face a serious shakeup. Hextall may have gotten a head start.
Schenn was very much part of the core, a focal point on the power play, among the leading scorers on the team, signed to a long-term contract a season ago and protected from Vegas in the Expansion Draft. Now he's is St. Louis, just like that.
It can happen to anyone, and you would certainly expect everyone from top to bottom to be watching their back after a deal like that.
So in trying to replace Schenn's offensive production, the Flyers will likely rely on Patrick, Oskar Lindblom and Jordan Weal, assuming a deal comes complete before free agency. For three kids, that's big responsibility, but it's that kind of opportunity that can also make young players rise to the occasion.
Maybe that's Hextall's thinking here. Maybe the Flyers are trying to get better internally by finally bringing up prospects and seeing what they have.
With that in mind, with potentially two rookie defensemen and two rookie forwards destined for the 2017-18 roster, the Flyers used the draft to stock up on forwards. The Flyers are well-stocked on defensemen. They may now be able to say the same about their forwards.
The roster next season may have an interesting makeup, but it will at least be a step toward the roster that is supposed to produce a contender. With the way the pipeline still looked after the weekend, the Flyers future did not suffer at all. And that's Hextall's main goal, to keep the Flyers competitive in the now and stocked for the future.
