C Caleb Malhotra - Brantford Bulldogs, OHL (2026 Draft)
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frontsfan67
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- Dec 3, 2022
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If Lawrence went top 3 that would be the shock of the draft. Maybe as big or bigger of a shock than Beckett Sennecke going #3 on draft day.
Canucks aren't even sniffing calculus, they are still struggling through grade 4 trigonometry.
I kid Canucks fans!!
ccman68
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- Dec 9, 2017
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Kotkaniemi, Hayton, Andersson, Kasper, Turcotte… just listing some top 10 two-way centers of past drafts. Maybe the worst player type you could possibly draft. At best you are getting Matty Beniers. The only elite two-way center I see is Nico Hischier and he wasn't that as a prospect.
ValeriKamensky
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- May 8, 2013
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His Halifax coach described him as literally the best defensive forward of Moosheads team
frontsfan67
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Did you watch any of Nico hischier lol?
Barkov, Larkin, Suzuki, Horvat, Couturier, Bennett, Draisaitl (when he was drafted), Zibanejad, Carlsson, Lindholm, Monahan, Lundell... Plenty of good players to pick in the top half of the draft that are known as two way centers
AlternateSideParking
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- Dec 11, 2005
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Good prospect. Diverse skill set and high floor. Mostly overrated by the media, partly because of his size and position, but I sense his camp is using CHL shills to pump his tires ahead of more accomplished prospects, or, are manipulating the narrative to get him to his camp’s desired spot. His list of accomplishments begins and ends with one impressive OHL season as a 2C on a powerhouse, although he was a key piece. Personally, I would have liked to see him in at least one tournament or camp. There is a major unknown with him — handling intense pressure and attention. The closest we have is the Barrie series and he was good under pressure, but that sample size is too small. The CHL-NTDP thing was stupid so I don’t factor it.
I remember his dad being hyped. It was the DPE and he was viewed as perfect for it. Muckler called him “garbage” but in the end, he was kinda right considering how he was heralded as a future leader/franchise type but couldn’t play with smarts.
I was watching Brady Martin this postseason because of Reid. London sicked Sokolovskii on him and it frustrated him. I wanted to see Malhotra in that situation — top line against top pair, but alas.
Have him top 10 but out of top five. Smits and Bjorck deserve more love. Maybe Hage is a good comparison. No way I draft Malhotra ahead of McKenna, Stenberg, and the four defenders. No way.
I remember his dad being hyped. It was the DPE and he was viewed as perfect for it. Muckler called him “garbage” but in the end, he was kinda right considering how he was heralded as a future leader/franchise type but couldn’t play with smarts.
I was watching Brady Martin this postseason because of Reid. London sicked Sokolovskii on him and it frustrated him. I wanted to see Malhotra in that situation — top line against top pair, but alas.
Have him top 10 but out of top five. Smits and Bjorck deserve more love. Maybe Hage is a good comparison. No way I draft Malhotra ahead of McKenna, Stenberg, and the four defenders. No way.
SannywithoutCompy
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- Dec 22, 2020
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Feels like he's of a similar calibre to Horvat as a prospect. Can't say I get the top 5 hype (let alone top 3) but should have a long career as a top 6 C. I'd probably take a guy like Hermansson over him as it stands right now just for the upside bet.
Wallet Inspector
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- Jan 19, 2013
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Let's be real: It's unlikely Manny Malholtra lasts that long as a coach(rebuild coaches rarely do) so Vancouver should simply draft Caleb if they believe he's the BPA.
Would definitely be a surprise, but it's honestly pretty wide open when you're looking at the top 3 centers Bjorck, Malholtra, and Lawrence.
EP's consolidated ratings had them 5th, 7th, and 11th respectively. I suspect they are in varying orders on any given team's list.
Per the rankings listed on their EP page:
Bjorck
Ranked as high as 3 and as low as 12
3 lists have him in the top 5
1 has him outside the top 10
Malholtra
Ranked as high as 3 and as low as 20
5 lists have him in the top 5
3 lists have him outside the top 10
Lawrence
Ranked as 4 and as low as 21
6 lists have him in the top 5
4 lists have him outside the top 10
You need to sort the good from the bad with those “consolidated” lists, as they aren’t as up-to-date as you’d expect.
Here’s Malhotra’s rankings sorted by the age of the list publication (the one you cited was published in December).
I’d imagine the Lawrence ones are equally skewed by age but in the reverse direction. Bjork is probably the most consistent across the year, but I haven’t checked him specifically.
What makes you say that?
Malhotra had 23 more points in the same amount of games in the regular season, and 1.73ppg in the playoffs vs Horvats 1.09ppg. Horvat also had skating concerns that Malhotra doesn't. Horvat was definitely a tier below as a prospect.
I'd actually be ok with the Canucks picking malhotra as long as mckenna/stenberg are off the board by the time they pick.
SannywithoutCompy
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Horvat was buried on a deep London squad (like Thomas and Cowan after him) and was a very late riser (not even a 1st round pick on any midseason ranking I can find). His only skating concerns were with top end speed, but he always had solid fundamentals.
I think he was much better defensively as a prospect than Malhotra as well. I find Malhotra gets caught flat-footed far too often (though he does have a good stick) and have found myself a bit confused about the labeling of him as a premiere two-way forward. I think overall they essentially balance each other out as far as their ability as prospects.
I could be wrong, I just don't see him as a guy who blows me away in any particular category, much like Horvat. Also much like Horvat though, I think he's as safe a bet as you could hope for to be a solid long-term top 6 forward.
At the top of the draft I'd personally prefer to swing for the fences with guys like McKenna, Stenberg, Reid, Carels, or Šmits (or if I'm going the guarantee route, I personally prefer Björck/Lawrence as players). I'd put him in a tier with the riskier swings (Hermansson, Bleyl, Rudolph, Verhoeff) and the slightly less safe but toolsy players (Suvanto, Gustafsson, Belchetz).
Bounces R Way
SILLY SZN
Barkov, Eichel, Point, O'Reilly, Backstrom, Crosby, Toews, Kopitar, Bergeron... just listing some top 10 two way centers that have been major parts of winning their teams a Stanley Cup. Really it seems like that's the most crucial and necessary piece actually.
I dunno if Malhotra can be all that but I do think he's the best bet out of this weaker center class. At best you're getting Matty Beniers is just a ridiculous take lol
Horvat was also playing in a better league and in a different role. The OHL was loaded back then compared to the watered down league that we see today. Horvat was also a much better all around player, with a better motor, better play without the puck, and more mature / responsible with the puck.
I find Malholtra to be a pretty reckless puck carrier for a guy touted as potentially the top center in his draft. He reminds me a bit of Taylor Hall without the elite skating ability and motor. That sort of hockey won't work very often at the next level. He doesn't strike me as a high scoring NHL pro, nor does his play away from the puck inspire confidence about his path as a 2 way guy. He's got a lot of work to do to become an NHL center, definitely a bit of a project.
He's got some projectable tools to be a solid NHLer, but I don't see elite tools - I wouldn't be shocked if he ends up being developed more as a PWF winger.
JadedRandom
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Lawrence going top-3 would be as bad as Thomas Hickey going 4th in '07, a complete bolt out of the blue.
Sometimes these bets pay off, like with Sennecke, but in this case I think it'd be horrible for the Canucks.
Lawrence was a top-5 pick for me at the start of the year, and now he'd be #19 on my list and trending down.
If I'm the Canucks' GM, I take Malhotra and stop messing around.
If Malhotra is gone, take either Stenberg or McKenna and don't overcomplicate matters. McKenna and Stenberg are superior prospects to Malhotra right now, even though they play less important positions, and we can't understate how high their potential is.
The Canucks will likely be bad for years, so it's not like they absolutely HAVE to draft their new top center right now.
They could draft their top-gun center in 2027, with what will likely be another high pick.
Respectfully, I disagree on a lot of what you've just said.
I actually prefer Malhotra as a prospect vs. Horvat in his draft year.
Prospect Horvat showed a lot of high-end tools but nothing elite, at all, which tanked my evaluation of his potential as a prospect.
I had Horvat about #11-12 at the time if I remember correctly (close to 70 years-old now, so maybe I'm remembering wrong), lower than where he ultimately ended up being drafted, and I did not see the first-line upside at all.
Whereas Malhotra's playmaking ability I would say is borderline elite as a skillset, and I think could form the basis to him being an actual first-liner in the NHL if he reaches his ceiling.
So yeah, I would say that prospect Horvat had lower projections on my part, but was admittedly "safer".
Except that on the top-end of the draft we have to really hone-in and favor ceiling over "safeness", which is why I prefer Malhotra over prospect Horvat.
Moving on, Malhotra does turn the puck over, and tries to do too much on his own, but he's very good in transition, and manages to enter the zone with possession consistently, using little quick pass-and-go plays with his teammates.
And that ability to enter with possession, with all of the versatile offensive skillset and passing that Malhotra has, will very likely make him a center in the NHL rather than a winger.
This is no Will Smith here, that is not especially good at retrieving his own pucks, or working below the hash marks.
Malhotra still has tons of work to put on in order to be a long-time center in the NHL, true, but I think he has a definite spot at center-ice in the pros, and possesses both a high ceiling and a high floor, which is why I like him so much this year.
I don't really watch the BCHL, and he was an undrafted ranking for me to start the year, but Malhotra's just been so good this season, so impressive, that I just kept improving his rank again and again, again, until he finished at #4 overall for me, behind McKenna, Stenberg, and Carels (in that order).
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Fatass
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- Apr 17, 2017
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Unless it’s 99 and 66, don’t two way centres more often lead the clubs to the Cup than those centres who put up a lot points but struggle to play defensively? I look at this current Cup Finsl, and Eichel (the second prize in the beauty contest from his draft) is leading his club as a two way centres to (perhaps?) Cup #2.
So, unless Mckenna and Stenberg are exceptional wingers, who can lead their clubs to winning, the two way centre might end up the better selection. It’s risky, but Malholtra has the tools to be a very important piece of a winning club.
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lawrence
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this year is like 2010 2015 2009. top 2 are locked in. those 2 guys are in a different tier.
whatever San Jose does with the pick, Stenberg or Mckenna will be picked by the 2nd pick. I don't see it happening this year. I don't see San Jose going out of their way to ignore Stenberg over "need" and the same for Vancouver. I don't see it happening in draft. The top 2 are locked in.
whatever San Jose does with the pick, Stenberg or Mckenna will be picked by the 2nd pick. I don't see it happening this year. I don't see San Jose going out of their way to ignore Stenberg over "need" and the same for Vancouver. I don't see it happening in draft. The top 2 are locked in.
Fatass
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- Apr 17, 2017
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The top two are wingers. Definitely they aren’t “locked”.
lawrence
Registered User
I agree Malhotra is a very good passer and give and go player. But I think he's much more raw than many of the comments about suggest. He could absolutely be developed as a center but I feel like that he's a long way from that, whereas he could probably step in as a winger in the next year or so.
Stewie Griffin
What the deuce
They're really not.
We're talking about 5'11 wingers. There's tons of speculation of teams having Stenberg ranked anywhere from 1-5, reports about teams being hesitant taking a 5'11 winger that high, and the obvious need for a defenseman for the team with the 2nd overall pick.
This draft is the most wide open since 2021 probably.
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