No chance Kravtsov is benched game 1, he actually gets in the trenches

Blais will not be on the top line, Drury has said he wants to have kids play top 6 minutes and make our bottom 6 harder to play against. That 3rd line will get shoved around the ice, Blais will be on the 4th line, remember Kreider will be back as he wasn't playing when all the Wilson stuff happened, same with Trouba and Lindgren.

Kreider - Mika - Laf
Panarin - Strome - Kakko
Goodrow- Chytil -Kravstov
Hunt - Rooney - Blais

and that's only if no other moves are made... which is unlikely.

Gauthier?

I think Gauthier gets minutes this year, just not against the Caps as they will likely want to go with more of an aggressive willing to fight line up. I expect Tinordi to be dressed as well, maybe for Nils, maybe as a 7th d-man. But Gauthier will get minutes this season.

Don't see a reason to play Hunt over him

Gauthier isn't a 4th liner, he needs to play with skilled players in order for him to be useful. I don't see him edging out Goodrow or Kravstov to be on the 3rd line and he certainly shouldn't be edging out anyone on the first two lines. I believe the Rangers are trying to make a 4th line similar to the 2014 cup run, Dorsett/Carcillo - Boyle -Moore, hard to play against, good defensively and physical. Barron/Hunt - Rooney - Blais can accomplish that, putting Gautheir on that line changes the entire dynamics.

Kreider Chytil Gauthier
Goodrow Rooney Blais works just fine

Gallant rolls his lines a lot so Goodrow will play enough anyway

So you have a top line of Laf - Mika - Kravstov? Not sure Kravstov is ready for top line minutes just yet and there has been a lot of talk of Laf switching to right wing so Kreider stays on the top line.

Goodrow isn't making 3.6 million to play on our 4th line.

Hes taking all of Buch's PK minutes at least and Gallant is notorious for playing his 4th line very generously, also neither Kakko or Kravtsov know who they're playing with but Buch was traded with Kravtsov needing top 6 minutes in mind and both the 1st line and the 2nd line are top 6

We shall see, but I'd be shocked if Goodrow isn't on the 3rd line at least. One of Kreider or Kravstov is not getting top 6 minutes, as Bread, Laf and Kakko are locked in. So either Kravstov gets dealt, or he or Kreider end up on the 3rd line. If we go for balance Goodrow-Chytil-Kravstov would be my prediction. If we want to have 3 lines that can score, similar to 2014 Kreider-Chytil-Goodrow is a very strong 3rd line.

Kreider is getting PP1 time for sure so Gallamt might think him on the 3rd line at ES is enough

I wouldn't have an issue with him playing on the 3rd line. He'd get very favorable matchups and I thought he looked good at times with Chytil, throw Goodrow on that line and they should be able to create chances, chip in offensively with some offensive production, cycle down low, and be effective defensively.