Skates on line with Max Domi at centre and Joel Armia on the right side as players hit the ice for the first time in Brossard.
Maybe Jonathan Drouin won't play centre this season for the Canadiens.
After the Canadiens tried to hammer a square peg into a round hole all of last season by making Drouin their No. 1 centre, he found himself on left wing Friday when the Canadiens hit the ice at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard for the first time at training camp. Max Domi was at centre and Joel Armia was on the right wing — two players acquired by the Canadiens in trades this summer.
Drouin was used mostly as a winger with the Tampa Bay Lightning before the Canadiens acquired him last summer in exchange for defenceman Mikhail Sergachev. In 77 games as a centre last season, Drouin posted 13-33-46 totals and was minus-28 while winning only 42.5 per cent of his faceoffs.
"He's come to camp again in better shape this year," Julien said about Drouin. "So I don't need to see him as much as I need to see the new guys. Max is one of those guys that we may need there (at centre), maybe he'll play on the wing. And that's the thing that I don't think there's any decisions made on that. But you've also got (Nick) Suzuki, (Jesperi) Kotkaniemi, we need to see those guys. So the players that I know well enough, I don't need to see them in a certain position.
Suzuki, acquired from the Golden Knights in the Max Pacioretty trade on Monday, skated at centre Friday on a line with Paul Byron and Nikita Scherbak. Kotkaniemi, the Canadiens' first-round pick (third overall) at this year's NHL Draft, was at centre between Nicolas Deslauriers and Artturi Lehkonen.
Domi, acquired from the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for Alex Galchenyuk, wasn't surprised to find himself at centre on Friday.
As for playing on the same line as Drouin, Domi said: "Either one of us can play centre, right, so I think that's great. If he's struggling a little bit, then I can step up and vice-versa, so I think it's great.
Not only is Drouin noticeably lighter this season — saying at his charity golf tournament last week he wants to get down to around 195 pounds after playing at 203 last season on his 6-foot-frame — he also has a new hairstyle with long, flowing locks coming out from under his helmet.
It will be interesting to see what the Canadiens' lines look like when the regular season opens on Oct. 3 in Toronto against the Maple Leafs.