Julien: Canadiens won't be shy about using young players

Montreal coach Claude Julien knows his team will be a decided underdog in its preliminary-round series against the Penguins next month.

Perhaps that is why he sounds as if he'll be willing to gamble on using some players with limited experience if they perform well during the training camp that got underway Monday.

"Our philosophy is to pick the team that gives us the best chance to win," Julien told reporters after practice Wednesday. "It's as simple as that."

One veteran who isn't in danger of losing his place in the lineup is Shea Weber, who is the cornerstone of Montreal's defense corps and returned after sitting out Tuesday's workout.

Getting Weber, who had skated on his own Tuesday, back is a plus for the Canadiens, of course, and Julien said he also is happy with the attitude he's seen from his players so far.

"The mindset of our hockey club was the most important priority for us this first week," he said.

Here are the Canadiens' personnel groupings at Wednesday's workout:

FORWARDS

Tomas Tatar -- Phillip Danault -- Brendan Gallagher

Jonathan Drouin -- Nick Suzuki -- Joel Armia

Paul Byron -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Artturi Lehkonen

Dale Weise -- Jake Evans -- Jordan Weal

Ryan Poehling -- Charles Hudon -- Alex Belzile/Laurent Dauphin

DEFENSE

Ben Chiarot -- Shea Weber

Victor Mete -- Jeff Petry

Gustav Olofsson -- Cale Fleury