That's a lot of pressure to put on a late first rounder to stick him on a 2nd line of a team who's windows closing and needs to win now.
To be fair, Shinkaruk was as expected to go way earlier than he did. We got lucky he dropped as much as he did.
He played on the third line yesterday, so that's where he'll probably start the season. Kesler's line will have a lot of responsibility and ice team that might not be best for a rookie fresh from the draft, I agree. Horvat played 4C yesterday, so that's where he'll probably play. The question is more what happens to them after Kassian returns/the tryout period is over. The wing gets in the top 3 lines gets thin after Kassian returns, so not sure if Shinkaruk will stay past that. Then Horvat can easily be replaced by Richardson/Lain as 4C, so I'm not sure it's worth wasting him on the 4th line and burning a year, depending on how much torts wants to play our 4th line, so he might get sent down too, unless he starts amazingly.
Start:
Sedin-Sedin-Burrows
Higgins-Kesler-Hansen
Booth-Santorelli-Shinkaruk
Richardson-Horvat-Weise
After 5/9 games, barring injuries:
Sedin-Sedin-Kassian
Booth-Kesler-Burrows
Higgins-Santorelli-Hansen
Richardson-Lain-Weise or Sestito-Richardson-Weise
Would be my prediction, barring surprises like injuries or very strong rookie play. With our window closing, we might have to play our rookie if they're a lot better than our veterans.