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<\/p>\nCaleb Malhotra is sitting in the stands at the TD Civic Centre shortly after a morning skate. In the far end of the rink, Brantford Bulldogs director of player development Laura Fortino is running a development skate for the team\u2019s injured players and scratches. Malhotra\u2019s eyes are on the near end, though, following little Audax, the youngest son of his head coach, Jay McKee.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was one of those kids,\u201d he says, gesturing at Audax.<\/p>\n
The memories are getting fainter now, but they\u2019re still fond. Malhotra was 8 when his dad, Manny, retired from his 16-season NHL career just nine games shy of 1,000. He remembers his dad\u2019s final goal. He remembers going out before practice early in the morning in Vancouver, Carolina and Montreal to skate with him and his teammates. The strongest memories are from after his dad stopped playing and started coaching with the Toronto Maple Leafs as an assistant, though. By then, he was serious about hockey and chasing his dad around the ice had turned into skills sessions and skating work before school.<\/p>\n
Now 17, Malhotra is one of the early stories \u2014 and risers \u2014 of the 2026 NHL Draft. After making the move from the BCHL\u2019s Chilliwack Chiefs to the OHL with the Bulldogs once the NCAA opened up eligibility to major junior players (he\u2019s committed to Boston University for next season), he has taken off.<\/p>\n
After registering 26 points in 44 games at the Jr. A level, Malhotra was viewed as a mid-round prospect.<\/p>\n
This season, however, the 6-foot-1, 182-pound center, who won\u2019t turn 18 until June, has registered 29 points through his first 23 OHL games. On a loaded Bulldogs team chasing an OHL title, he has become an integral middle-six center at five-on-five and has slotted onto the first power-play and penalty-killing units (including as one of the lone forwards they use when down five-on-three).<\/p>\n
That play has earned him an \u201cA\u201d rating from NHL Central Scouting, which indicates a first-round candidate.<\/p>\n
Some of his dad \u2014 widely respected for his two-way play during his career and now as the head coach of the AHL\u2019s Abbotsford Canucks \u2014 has rubbed off on him, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI took how he sees the game. It\u2019s not just one end of the ice; it\u2019s everything. Details. How you use your stick. Little defensive checking habits,\u201d Malhotra said of what his dad has handed down to him. \u201cWhat I hope people would say is that I\u2019m a 200-foot player. That\u2019s how I was raised, it\u2019s how I\u2019ve been taught. And I try to make plays. I\u2019m a playmaker, I think. I try to put my teammates in good spots, push the pace offensively and use my skating abilities and passing.\u201d<\/p>\n
His athletic lineage comes from both sides of the family, though. His mom, Joann, was a soccer star at the University of Victoria, and her brother and Caleb\u2019s uncle is two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash.<\/p>\n
The one thing he\u2019s still got to work on to match his dad is the faceoff circle, where the Bulldogs use him a lot; he leads the team in draws taken, but he\u2019s under 50 percent on the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve tried to take his tips in the faceoff circle. He\u2019d still probably rinse me, though, which is pretty embarrassing,\u201d Malhotra said. \u201cBut it\u2019s one thing I really take pride in and want to continue to improve on. It\u2019s one thing I\u2019ll never stop practicing and trying to improve on.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a long way off, but he says he\u2019d like to coach like his dad someday, too.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Caleb Malhotra has registered 29 points through his first 23 OHL games. (Brandon Taylor \/ OHL)<\/p>\n
McKee, Bulldogs associate coach Vince Laise, his skills coach Leland de Langley and Bulldogs general manager Spencer Hyman each talk about Malhotra as someone they see as \u201can NHL captain one day.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe character of the person and the coachability and the joy for his teammates and his leadership, you can just see the workings of a National Hockey League leadership group-type person. And that\u2019s pretty unique to be around,\u201d Laise said. \u201cAnd having Manny as your father is definitely showing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hyman talks about him as a pleasure to be around and as \u201chardworking as can be.\u201d Even as a rookie, he said he has set a standard that others have followed with the Bulldogs.<\/p>\n
McKee describes Malhotra as a mature, engaging and positive person. He points out that Malhotra is the first junior player he\u2019s coached who asks the linesmen for their names before every game so that he can engage with them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been blown away at how he carries himself off the ice for a 17-year-old,\u201d McKee said.<\/p>\n
McKee has been surprised by just how good he is, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis talents are more than I was expecting,\u201d he said. \u201cThe IQ, the playmaking ability, his compete is high, he\u2019s really a really good all-around player. He\u2019s got good size to him, speed. I think the potential is through the roof.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this season, before five-year Bulldogs veteran and overager Lucas Moore was traded to the Oshawa Generals, The Athletic asked him which of his young teammates had made an impression on him.<\/p>\n
He answered quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cMalhotra,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s a really, really good player for 17.\u201d<\/p>\n
Laise said he \u201cdoes things probably two years in advance\u201d and looks more like a 19-year-old in the OHL than a 17-year-old rookie. He sees it in the way he digs in, his stick-on-puck details, how he plays through hands and his hockey sense. But he also sees it in how he\u2019s \u201calready gathering groups of people together\u201d in the locker room.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can just see that people gravitate to this young man,\u201d Laise said.<\/p>\n
Hyman insisted last year should be in the rear-view mirror for evaluators, pointing to Malhotra being 16 and it being his first year living away from his parents. He grew up in Vancouver but moved to Toronto when he was 12, and his mom and siblings have stayed there after Manny left the Maple Leafs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes time to transition as a person, which is going to allow you to play well on the ice. But I also think the OHL is a better style for him because you get both ends and you play with more skill,\u201d said Hyman.<\/p>\n
Malhotra said part of his decision to go to the OHL for his draft year was to be closer to his mom and siblings. He\u2019s glad he did, and has been helped by billet brother and team captain Jake O\u2019Brien (former linemate Aiden O\u2019Donnell, who was also traded to Oshawa, lived with them to start as well) and their billets, who he calls \u201cvery good people.\u201d In his downtime, he\u2019s working to finish his last few credits of high school with Ms. Vance, a teacher from the Brantford Collegiate Institute who works with the Bulldogs players.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\n Caleb Malhotra is committed to Boston University for next season. (Brandon Taylor \/ OHL)<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t expect to get off to the start that he did, but he did feel he could be \u201creally good in this league right away.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Monday, as players practiced for the first time together ahead of the CHL USA Prospects Challenge, that play landed him center stage ahead of the two-game series. Everything else made him the team\u2019s captain.<\/p>\n
De Langley, who is in his fourth year working with Malhotra, isn\u2019t surprised by his quick ascension over the last few months.<\/p>\n
He said he always felt Malhotra had it in him to become a first-rounder. He liked his decision to go to the BCHL and commit to BU before the rules changed, and thought it showed maturity for him to play the long game in his development, knowing with his work ethic, focus and habits that he could piece it all together. In their sessions, Malhotra will come up to him after a few reps, wanting to see himself on video and asking, \u201cHow did that look? What do you see? Could I get a little bit lower in my stance?\u201d He pays attention to the details and elevates practices. Others follow him.<\/p>\n
De Langley said Malhotra has developed \u201cphenomenal\u201d touch and \u201cgreat ability to control pucks in tight without losing.\u201d He calls his best attribute \u2014 \u201cwhat separates him and why he\u2019s going to have a long career\u201d \u2014 his hockey IQ and the way it allows him to use his technique in pressure situations to make good reads. He lauds his puck protection down low and his work in puck battles as something Malhotra has always had. He\u2019s fundamentally sound, de Langley said, describing him as like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Nico Hischier that way, but also with \u201ca little more bite to his game\u201d and the pace, aggression and relentlessness of Sam Bennett, another of his clients.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s just such a great, overall, two-way forward. He just does not cheat the game. I\u2019m excited because I think he can become one of those really great two-way centers,\u201d de Langley said. \u201cThe sky\u2019s the limit. There\u2019s only going to be one Caleb Malhotra.\u201d<\/p>\n
Malhotra is still rangy and long, according to de Langley, and he has continued work to do with his strength coach Andy O\u2019Brien at Junxion Performance. That work will help him add some needed pop to his shot. It\u2019ll also help him add another gear; de Langley doesn\u2019t consider him a burner, though he said his lateral movement on zone entries getting to middle ice is \u201ctruly high level\u201d and that his skating is \u201csuper, super effective on the ice.\u201d<\/p>\n
But just as de Langley isn\u2019t surprised by his draft-year breakout, he also believes all of those things are going to come for Malhotra because he\u2019s going to put in the necessary work.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a testament to the work he has put in,\u201d de Langley said.<\/p>\n
Hyman, de Langley, McKee and Laise all think he\u2019s not even done climbing, either.<\/p>\n
\u201cCaleb\u2019s going to skyrocket,\u201d Hyman said. \u201cThe hockey is important, obviously, and you have to have the skill level, but when teams meet him, they\u2019re going to fall in love with him. You meet this kid, and you\u2019re like, \u2018Hey, where do I sign up?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Reported from Brantford, Ontario, and Calgary, Alberta<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Caleb Malhotra is sitting in the stands at the TD Civic Centre shortly after a morning skate. In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306038,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-306037","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}