If he makes it I don’t think they put him and Newhook on a line together, if he makes the opening night roster I could see him at the 2LW. Also with Toews out at the start they go Byram Makar and Girard EJ because the latter have been so good together in the past.

I get the logic in putting Ranta at 2LW so as to not have two rookies on the same line, but a line of Ranta-Kadri-Burakovsky would be really bad defensively, not sure that would work that well. It would make more sense to have Ranta with Newhook and Jost who are both good defensively, especially Jost, and then have Nichuskin driving play for Kadri and Burakovsky. Whatever the case I agree that Ranta has looked great so far and right now deserves to be on the opening night roster.

If Toews is out to start with I hope we see Byram-Makar and Girard with Erik Johnson. Murray was tried in practice with Makar but they didn't seem to mesh well apparently, which makes Byram-Makar a logical choice.