The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Caleb Malhotra

Starting point is 00:00:00 Someone else who's been very busy as well. It's someone we've wanted to get on for a while here, and it's a last name that you know well. But normally we hear the name Manny in front of it. But there is a new Malhotra that everyone is going to get to know very well if they don't already, and that is Caleb Malhotra, the brand for Bulldogs of the OHL, and he joins me now. Caleb, first of all, thanks so much for joining me today.

Starting point is 00:00:24 How are you today, young man? Thanks for having me. Good, just a regular day, getting ready for a game against North Bay tomorrow. That's awesome. So describe like what a regular day for a highly ranked prospect in the 2026 NHL draft, no pressure, does for a regular day. What do you consider normal? Yeah, usually we'll come in around 8.30, do school till 9.45.

Starting point is 00:00:50 And then we're in the gym, 10, 1015 to 11, then we're on the ice, 11 15. and then practice is usually 45 minutes and a lot of guys stay out for an hour long after and that's kind of the whole day then we got to find something to do after the ring there's a whole bunch of different places I want to go with you here but I think for the purposes of the audience that that just wants to get to know who you are um at what point did you realize like a like your father is manny malhotra and that brings along with it you know opens a lot of doors in hockey. I remember talking to Stan Bowman a couple of weeks ago and he was his father's legendary

Starting point is 00:01:30 coach, Scottie Bowman, and he would come home and there would be like, NHLers just hanging around the house. And he just thought like, well, everybody has that, right? And then he realized somewhere down the road like, oh, no, my dad's probably the best coach in the history of the game. Like, at what point did it dawn on you that not everybody has the opportunity to have a dad who's playing in the NHL and how cool was that when you made that realization? Yeah, I was kind of later, honestly, I was probably around like,

Starting point is 00:01:55 13, 12, 13, when I realized, well, like, not everybody has this. Like, when I was younger, we'd be, when he played for the Canucks, I'd just be in the locker room playing when he sticks after with the other kids and just kind of seeing like Roberto Longo and like Alex Burroughs and guys who got just walking around, like, well, that's normal. Those are just, they're just going to. And then I realized when he started working for the Leafs and he was a coach and I got to go to games and I got to see kind of what he had to do every day and the privileges that

Starting point is 00:02:25 come along with that, I was, uh, I was kind of like, oh, wow, this is, this is a bit special. Not everybody gets to experience this and have this resource. You know, it's, it's so cool, you know, growing up in in that environment, I wonder, you know, like, who had, and we should throw in as well, like, your uncle is Steve Nash. Like, we should throw in, like, there's like elite level athletes all around you. Who had, from a, from an athletic point of view, who do you think had the most influence on your, on your career? Yeah, probably a dad, a mom or even, yeah, Uncle, Uncle Stephen, like he said, they're all just kind of watching them.

Starting point is 00:03:03 They talk about how much it takes and how much they put in, but then you see it and how it consists and they are and everything. I know, even outside of working out and stuff, dad, just getting up early to do video, staying up late doing video, getting to the rink, early to get a workout before he gets to work, you know, just kind of things like that I see every day. And then the stories I hear from other people about how much they've done. So it's a real privilege to kind of grow up around that. You know, and I've heard I was talking to someone this morning about this, like at how much that has rubbed off on you, whether it's something as simple as like, you know, helping mom with the other kids, get the kids to hockey, packing bags, cleaning up, like all of it.

Starting point is 00:03:45 Like, I can't help but, you know, hearing your talk and thinking that's right from watching, you know, the example of your, dad manny and how he's always conducted his life is that accurate yeah for sure how like just disciplined he is and how he managed to keep up trying to discipline us and then support mom even though he's not home all the time mom was a huge part of my life him being away on on road trips a lot of the time she had to kind of muscle down for weeks at a time kind of taken care of us and making sure we get to all our activities there's i have three younger siblings so it's it's not easy with having kids in the house.

Starting point is 00:04:24 Last year for you was what was interesting and challenging whether it was like I think you had an ankle issue, maybe a shoulder issue as well that you had to sort of work through throughout the season and then maybe this is and this is obviously more mental watching because you played in the BCHL

Starting point is 00:04:40 watching some of your teammates and other players around the league go to the CHL and take another route and you didn't like you stayed like whenever I would check it was always like Nope, Caleb's made a commitment, and he's staying. Committed for the season, he's staying. He's not going to leave.

Starting point is 00:04:55 Was that difficult for you watching some of your friends, other teammates, other players leave? Yeah, for sure. Just watching guys, like, growing up, playing with, playing against, going high in the draft, and then playing for their teams and doing very well dominating even. So it was tough to watch,

Starting point is 00:05:15 wanting to compete with those guys and be better, but not being able to prove it. different league and not having the kind of year I wanted to have. So it was definitely difficult in the mental aspect. Okay, I do have to ask you, Caleb, you know that you're a real buzz player right now. Like, there's a lot of noise around your name amongst people that follow the prospects, right? It's like Hotrizer, Hot Riser, Hot Riser, Watch Malhotra, watch Malhotra. Do you follow that?

Starting point is 00:05:45 Like, is that something like, would your teammates, like, rankings come out? Like, do you go to the Bulldogs room and someone's got that? that like stapled up at your stall with your with your name circled around it like how does it work for you do you pay attention to that stuff no personally i try to stay away from that kind of stay off the instagram rankings and the twitter rankings i think it's just whether it's a it's a good ranking or a bad one it kind of gets to your head either way and i don't want it to really affect me day to day and guys guys always joke about it you're always gonna you're gonna you're going to see that stuff regardless of how much you try and keep it away.

Starting point is 00:06:20 But for me, it's just kind of just not taking it to heart regardless of kind of what the ranking says or who says what. Would you talk like, I mean, your team, it's like, you know, whether it's in O'Brien, Merrick Vanekar, like you've got players in your Ben Danford comes in. Like, you've got a lot of players in that room that have gone through it and been drafted. Is that ever a point of conversation for you guys? Like, hey, what's it like? What's draft year like?

Starting point is 00:06:46 what's draft season like does that happen yeah for sure i i asked them all the time kind of probably bugging a bit too much about like what they kind of went through in their draft here what what helped them out with uh you know seeing the rankings or whether it was kind of competing just little little details on or off the ice i i live with jake o'brien actually in the real house so i i get to talk to him about that quite a bit he's uh he's really good uh but your whole team is really good. And it just like, it keeps on improving. And like just when we had Spencer Hyman on the show last week and it's like just when you

Starting point is 00:07:25 think like, okay, the Bulldogs are done now, it's like, bam, here comes like another elite level player. What does that do for you? Because I know you're someone that like, you know, prides himself on, on development and also winning. Like, what does that do for you as a player in your draft year when you see that this team is trying to, I don't know, create like a traveling all-star team. I don't even know how to describe the Bulldogs at this point.

Starting point is 00:07:51 What does that do for you? It excites me. It shows how we're all in this year, how we want to win the whole thing, everything. And when you see guys like that come in, it's another opportunity to try and prove yourself against those guys night in and night out trying to be the best player on the ice and then utilizing them as much as you can, you know, playing with guys that you know. know you can trust to make an elite play to either give it to your either checking someone and getting the puck up the ice, you know, those kind of players you can really rely on.

Starting point is 00:08:26 So it's exciting. And when your coach, when Jay can trust you to play in different situations, even with all those guys that he can use, it's kind of a boost of confidence. Let me ask you about Jay McKee, your coach, because I don't know that it's any sort of secret, but like this guy's on an NHL path. Like he's going to be an NHL coach, you know, probably sooner than later.

Starting point is 00:08:51 What's your relationship like with him? What's he like as a coach? I remember, listen, I'm old enough to remember watching Jay as a player and he was like, Caleb, I don't know if you, if you know much about how Jay played, but he was like the most fearless shot blocker in the NHL. And we're all like

Starting point is 00:09:07 super thrilled when he got like this really great contract from the St. Louis Blues because when you're a shot blocker, And that's the way you make your money. You're like one shot away from being injured. And he got through Buffalo, blocked a ton of shots, and got this great contract at St. Louis. And everybody is really happy for him.

Starting point is 00:09:22 Like he made his money the hard way in the NHL. What's he like as a coach? He's really intelligent. He knows all the little details in the game. Obviously been in the game for a while. And I've heard about how he played and it's pretty cool when he talks about it. But you know you can trust what he's. saying and he he knows what he's talking about and especially when everyone knows he's he's on

Starting point is 00:09:49 the n-h-l path everyone says he's a n-h-l coach coaching the c hl level so when you have a guy like that learning from him little details and how he how he coaching how he coaches his coaching style is it's unique it's good he doesn't kind of bark at guys or yell he's he's really calm and composed on the bench and you can you feed off that energy when you're down you're not too down but when you're when you're up you're not you're not too up he keeps everyone at the level and it's it's really good to feed off of them how often um it's like a couple with you here uh how often would would your dad check in uh and not just like hey how you doing son but like more like does he talk to you about hockey or is he considering he's a coach himself does he

Starting point is 00:10:34 say i'm not your coach caleb j mckee's your coach you talk to him like what's the relationship now with dad? Well, I talk to him every day. I call him once or twice a day. Just see how he's doing and talk to him. And then he's dad first. That's his thing. He's always been dad first.

Starting point is 00:10:52 And then when I ask for, he's coach, which is, it's really nice when he's not overbearing and it's always about hockey. He can take a break from it. And when I ask for, he'll put his too sensitive. He sends me clips and he'll call me about certain plays and just talk me through kind of what I was thinking and what he thinks I should do. So when I get a resource like that,

Starting point is 00:11:14 that very few guys get to have, it's a way to elevate my game. It's super cool. Okay, we're going to let you go on this one. First of all, it's been a real pleasure talking to you. I'll let you go on this. From now until the end of the season, playoffs, I mean,

Starting point is 00:11:32 top team in the CHL right now, I'm sure in the back of everyone's mind, people are thinking Memorial Cup. Colonna is lovely in the spring, as I'm sure you know. What's the goal for you? Just like you said, Memorial Cup, our team lost to win an O'SL Championship in a Memorial Cup. And Spencer has made that very clear in the room, especially with all the movement he's had and all the trades he's made. And everyone in our room's bought in.

Starting point is 00:11:59 So we know what our goal is. We wish you all the best. And we'll watch for you, even though you will ignore it on all the, the draft rankings online or otherwise. Best of luck, the rest of the season. It's been a pleasure catching up you. Thanks for joining me today. Yeah, thank you for having me.

Starting point is 00:12:15 I said 16 hours last night, every day this week, every day this month. I can't get out my head, lifestyle, ambitious day-to-day, because you can call it all right. I went to the dark man. I'm trying to give me a little medicine I'm like now and that's fine I'm not against those men that's pretty new it's me and myself

Starting point is 00:12:48 and how this is going to be fixing my mind I do want to back I turned on the music I do want to backer I turn on the music That's enough Yeah, bad and then sometimes you're using Have been on the days that we're wrong

The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Caleb Malhotra

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