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At 6-foot-6, Mike McCarron still stands out in a hockey locker room.

But as the Canadiens opened their rookie camp Thursday in Brossard, he looked like a new man.

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For starters, there’s a new, stylish haircut.

“The older haircut was bad,” McCarron said with a laugh.

McCarron is also noticeably leaner than he was the last time I saw him in St. John’s in April when he was wrapping up the season with the AHL’s IceCaps. The Canadiens’ official rookie-camp roster has McCarron listed at 237 pounds, but he weighed in Thursday morning at 226. He looks leaner, but also much stronger — especially in the legs.

This is McCarron’s fourth rookie camp with the Canadiens after the club selected him in the first round (25th overall) at the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. When the Canadiens picked McCarron, they knew they were taking a risk and he was a long-term project, ranked 35th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting. He obviously had the size, but needed to work on his skating and foot speed after playing two seasons with the U.S. National Development Team.