Pluses, minuses for Flyers-Panthers, Blues-Kraken

NHL Network and ESPN analyst Kevin Weekes will offer his thoughts for big games each week throughout the season.

The Philadelphia Flyers (3-0-0) are off to a nice start and visit the Florida Panthers (2-1-0) at FLA Live Arena on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; TNT, TVAS). Then the St. Louis Blues (1-0-0) visit the Seattle Kraken (1-2-1) at Climate Pledge Arena (10 p.m. ET; TNT, TVAS).
Here's my breakdown of the games.

Flyers at Panthers

Flyers
Pluses: They've won their first three games this season outscoring opponents 11-6, including a 3-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday. Travis Konecny has three goals in three games, and Morgan Frost and Scott Laughton have two apiece. You can see they are playing like a John Tortorella-led team, and they've locked in down defensively allowing two goals per game. Philadelphia won three straight games once last season.
Minuses: The Flyers have a lot of young players, so we need more of a sample size to see how this plays out over the season, but they've been good so far. They've also had to come back in each of their three wins, which is nice, but you don't want to always be chasing the game. The Lightning had a 2-0 lead midway through the game Tuesday before the Flyers scored three straight goals.

Panthers
Pluses: The addition of Matthew Tkachuk has paid immediate dividends. He has skill, intensity and can do it all. Tkachuk has four points (two goals, two assists) and a team-high eight penalty minutes in three games. The Panthers have Stanley Cup aspirations after winning the Presidents' Trophy last season. They brought in Paul Maurice as coach and seem to have all the pieces for another run this season.
Minuses: We know they can score but they have to be a more complete team. The defense and goaltending let them down last season. They can't just be the "Comeback Cats and they learned that in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Losing Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar and Mason Marchment in the offseason hurts, as does a lower-body injury to defenseman Aaron Ekblad, one of their best players. Ekblad was placed on long term injured reserve Wednesday after leaving in the second period of a 5-3 loss at the Boston Bruins on Monday.

Blues at Kraken

Blues
Pluses: Not trading Vladimir Tarasenko was the best move they never made. He's been great. He scored two goals in their first game this season after having an NHL career-high 82 points in 75 games last season. Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas each got a nice contract and are going to be two key players for years to come. Jordan Binnington is again the clear No. 1 goalie after Ville Husso was traded to the Detroit Red Wings. I think Binnington can play like he did during the playoffs last season (4-1-0, 1.72 goals-against average, .949 save percentage) after a subpar regular season (18-14-4, 3.13 GAA, .901 save percentage).
Minuses: They've played one game, fewest in the NHL, so it's hard to pinpoint too many negatives from a 5-2 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Oct. 15, but we do know playing in the Central Division is going to be tough. Last season, five teams from the division made the playoffs.

Kraken
Pluses: Free agent acquisition Andre Burakovsky is off to a nice start with five points (two goals, three assists) in four games. Matty Beniers, who had nine points (three goals, six assists) in 10 games last season, has picked up where he left off with a goal and three assists in four games. It's early, but he looks like he's going to be a top-flight center for the next decade plus. It may be a small sample size, but the Kraken must feel good about starting 6-for-18 (33.3 percent) on the power play.
Minuses: They've lost three of their first four games and have allowed five goals in each of the three losses. They're in a tough stretch with five straight against playoff teams from last season, and their next two are against the Blues and at the Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche. After finishing last season 31st on the penalty kill (74.9 percent), Seattle isn't off to a great start, going 58.8 percent (10-for-17). Lastly, it's been a bit confusing with how the Kraken have used Shane Wright, the No. 4 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. He's played two games, averaging 6:32 of ice time, and been scratched two games. He should either be playing every day, and more than six minutes in the NHL, or should develop in junior hockey.