“HE’S JUST A GAMER”

He wasn’t done. A few minutes later, the teenager stole the puck along the wall in Sudbury’s zone and dished to a rushing Edison Engle, who put it on net and saw Dennis capitalize on the rebound. Not long after that, Malhotra was back on the ice killing off a Wolves power play when the defender in front of him stumbled and lost the puck. Malhotra made him pay, collecting it and delivering an inch-perfect pass up the ice, springing Adam Benak on a short-handed breakaway.

The Czech forward finished it off in style. And in doing so, he sealed an extraordinary five-point night for his new teammate, a night that saw Malhotra touch every corner of the club’s win — on the power play, on the penalty kill, in his own zone, in the opposition’s. He was everywhere.

For Jay McKee, an NHL veteran of 14 years and Malhotra’s head coach in Brantford, the early breakout came as no surprise. The Bulldogs bench boss had clocked the teenager’s immense potential the first time he saw him flying around the sheet.

“You could see the talent level he had right off the get-go,” McKee says. “He’s got really good hands, he sees the ice very well, a lot of deception in his game. The first time on the ice, we had a number of guys that were first-year players with us, so as the coach, you’re trying to just get a glimpse of everybody.

“But, you know, it didn’t take long.”

Malhotra started off his debut OHL campaign with 16 points through his first 10 games and finished the season with a banner 84-point effort, adding 26 more in 15 playoff games as the Bulldogs battled their way to the conference final.

“He really took off,” McKee says. “A lot of guys, when they come to the Ontario Hockey League, they feel out the league early and they’re a little bit tentative with their play. But he just took charge right off the get-go and earned an important spot for himself in our lineup. And he just got better as the season went on.

“Once playoffs hit, he was our best player. You could just see, once the games got real at the end of the season, he was on a whole new level.”

He acclimatized just as quickly off the ice.

“When you go to a new team as a first-year player, typically guys are a little bit shy until they get to know everybody, and it takes a little time to fit in,” McKee says. “But the first week, I saw him engaging with over-age players, making them laugh, engaging with other first-year younger players, making them laugh. He’s just an engaging personality. The kind of guy that connects a whole room.”

There’s no overstating the seismic impact of the campaign Malhotra strung together in Brantford. Joining the Bulldogs ahead of the 2025-26 season after a year out west in B.C., Malhotra entered this past season on the lower end of most projections of the 2026 NHL Draft’s first round — if he was mentioned at all. Fast forward to the here and now, and the 18-year-old heads into the Draft widely considered the top centreman on the board, likely to hear his name called in the top five.

The path to that lofty point wasn’t easy, wasn’t conventional. But ask those who’ve spent time with the young pivot, who’ve shared a bench with him, who understand his character off the ice, and you’ll find little surprise he was able to will himself to the top of the pile.

“He’s just a very, very high-quality human being, before anything he does on the ice,” McKee says. “You know, just the way he carries himself, both on and off the ice — he’s going to be a future NHL captain.”

By the end of their second season together, Malhotra was already evolving into a well-rounded force in the middle of the sheet.

“Caleb just became a 200-foot player, responsible in every zone,” Sisca says. “Penalty kill, power play, last minute, up or down by a goal. Just a reliable player. Great on faceoffs, attention to detail, coachable. He was just the perfect player in minor hockey, that every coach wishes he has on his team.”

He was already emerging as a leader in the locker room, too. Sisca remembers teammates gravitating towards Malhotra’s bubbly, jovial personality. But he remembers the centreman flipping the switch, too, pushing the group to lock in when the moment called for it. The results speak for themselves.

“We won a lot in those two years. We won two Silver Sticks together, two GTHL championships together. We lost in the finals of the OHL Cup — I think that’s the only loss that we had in a big game,” Sisca says. “You know, if you’re a coach in minor hockey, you’re kind of like, ‘Who’s going to show up in this big game?’ With Caleb, it was like, ‘I know I’ve got Caleb coming into this big game — I’m going to have one guy that’s going to be the best player on the ice.’

“And every final that we played in, he was the best player on the ice, from both teams. That competitive nature, just to win and be the best player in big moments, that separated him from everybody. … I mean, he’s just a gamer.”

As Malhotra wrapped up his minor hockey career in Vaughan, an opportunity to continue on in Ontario was laid out in front of him when the Kingston Frontenacs tabbed him with the eighth-overall pick in the 2024 OHL Priority Selection. But the Malhotras wanted to keep the college hockey route alive, believing it to be the best path for Caleb. The young phenom opted to head west, joining the BCHL’s Chilliwack Chiefs and committing to Boston University for the far-off 2026-27 campaign.

The transition to B.C. hockey wasn’t easy. The BCHL is a different animal compared to the system in Ontario Malhotra came from — compared to the OHL, too. The teenager wasted little time proving he was up to the challenge.

“Our league is a lot older than your typical CHL team,” says Chilliwack’s general manager and head coach, Brian Maloney. “So, for him to come in as a 16-year-old and have to battle against other guys, you know, he got knocked around a little bit at the start. But he’s just super, uber competitive and just wanted to get better every single day.

“We spent a lot of time with Caleb one-on-one, just having conversations about pushing through the adversity. You know, he wanted it more than ever.”

Past navigating those battles with the opposition, Malhotra found himself tested by his own club, too.

“We made him earn it,” Maloney says. “He wasn’t our first-round draft pick. He was just a really high-end recruit and we wanted to put him through the ringer a little bit and make him earn every spot. So, he played all around our lineup — there were nights he was sitting out, there were nights he’d centre our fourth line. And that was kind of by design. We felt like we pushed him.”

Malhotra finished the regular season with 26 points in 44 games. But by the time the post-season arrived, he was in full swing.

“This league made him earn every inch of ice out there, so he learned to really grind,” Maloney says. “We went to the final that year, and by the time we got to the final, he was arguably one of the best players on the ice, never came off the ice for us — as a 16-year-old.”

Before his season in B.C. was through, an eligibility rule change sent a shockwave through the junior hockey world. After years of barring CHL players from joining the college hockey ranks, the NCAA Division I Council ruled in November 2024 that CHL players would be eligible to play college hockey as of the following year.

Malhotra decided a move to the OHL was best. His rights were traded from Kingston to Brantford. But rather than jumping ship immediately, he stuck it out in B.C. and finished the campaign. The weight of that decision was not lost on Maloney.

“We had kids from all over, drafted in the OHL or the Quebec League or the WHL. … When that rule change happened, a lot of those kids jumped back into their programs that drafted them,” Maloney says. “Manny, I consider him a friend — we had lots of conversations, and they felt like his development was progressing through us and through our league. For them not to abandon the process speaks volumes to the character of the kid and the family, and their loyalty.”

“They both have that work ethic, that drive to be the best,” adds Sisca. “And that winning edge — they’re both very, very competitive. You can see that Caleb gets that from his dad, and obviously from his uncle, [NBA Hall of Famer] Steve Nash, too.”

Malhotra remembers seeing his dad’s final goal in the big leagues — a breakaway potted against Toronto’s Jonathan Bernier, during Manny’s stint with the Montreal Canadiens. Ask any coach who’s worked with the young forward, and his dad’s impact on his game, on his career, are clear. That said, it’s Malhotra’s mother, Joann — a former soccer standout at the University of Victoria — whose advice he leans on most.

“My mom, I just talk with her all the time, I can talk with her about anything,” Malhotra told Sportsnet’s Sam Cosentino recently. “About what my dad went through, what my uncle went through, and how she balanced her school and her athletics. And just talking to her about what it takes to push and to get to the next level, and what other people have to go through.

“She’s taught me a lot of really important lessons. I’ve learned a lot from her.”

Much has been made of the possibility of Malhotra winding up in Vancouver, the potential of him landing on a squad coached by his dad, given the Canucks, drafting at No. 3, will be selecting in the zone at which Malhotra’s name is expected to be called.

It’s crossed the centreman’s mind, too.

“I think it would be a mix of emotions. A little bit awkward at times. But it would be super cool at the end of the day,” Malhotra told Cosentino. “Not many people get to say they got coached by their dad, especially at the highest level. I think it would be pretty easy for us to keep it professional at the rink, be able to just be coach and player, and follow his orders. And just play the game.”

Those who know the family well from their time in B.C. see it much the same way.

“If you know Manny Malhotra, he’s a straight shooter,” says Maloney. “He tells you how it is. If his kid’s capable of playing and contributing and helping the Vancouver Canucks, then he’ll have him in the lineup. But if he doesn’t, his kid will understand why he’s not in the lineup.

“And, you know, if they do decide to do that, they’re getting a pretty special player.”

The central consideration for the Canucks, of course, is Malhotra’s immense potential. McKee has seen his fair share of elite talents in his day. The 48-year-old played alongside the likes of Sidney Crosby in Pittsburgh, Paul Kariya in St. Louis, and Pat LaFontaine in Buffalo. He coached Connor McDavid and Alex DeBrincat in Erie. The coach has seen what special looks like out on the sheet. And he sees something special in Malhotra.

“On the ice, he’s a wizard with the puck,” McKee says. “A jack-of-all-trades — he’s got a great shot, he’s got great passing abilities, so he can score goals if he’s in the dangerous area, but he’s got really deceptive hands. … I mean, there’s just so many plays where he’ll be on a rush and he’ll look like he’s out of space and he’s going to get closed off — and next thing you know he makes a move that very few guys are able to make.

“That deception is hard to find. It’s hard to teach. But he’s certainly got it.”

“His one-on-one skillset is next to none,” adds Maloney. “His agility, to change direction at a high pace — it’s hard to really teach that, knowing when to cross defenders up and when to attack them and when to pull off of them. … I mean, not too often do you think of players that have the full package, but he certainly has that.

“And that’s his play with the puck. Honestly, what’ll stand out, that people might not even notice because he’ll have the puck the whole year, is he can be hard to play against. When I was playing him on the fourth line and telling him I needed more out of him, he’d go out and finish checks. I remember he went out and fought a 20-year-old, came back to the bench, turned to me and said, ‘Coach, that wasn’t that bad!’ He’s got the capability of playing with a little bit of a snarl.”

“He’s a guy that is just going to play a hard game, both ways, on the puck,” says McKee. “There’s no cheat in this game.”

Now comes the next test. If all goes to plan, by the end of this week, Malhotra will be standing on stage at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo wearing a big-league sweater, his NHL dream one step closer to becoming reality. It’ll be a pinnacle moment for a prospect who seemed miles from the spotlight not too long ago, who had to battle and fight and will his way to the top.

It’ll be a momentous occasion, too, for those who helped him get there.

“I’m proud of him.” McKee says. “As a coach, we see behind the scenes all the hard work and dedication that these young men put in. You’re almost like a proud dad when you see these guys’ names get called. So, I’m certainly excited for him and everything he’s going to earn on draft day.

“You know, he’s just such a high-quality person — the kind of person you want to see have success. He’s earned the spotlight. And come draft day, he won’t have to wait too long.”