28-05-2025
Does Abbotsford's success mean Malhotra will outskate the Canucks?
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In a league where your lineup is in flux nearly every night because of call-ups to the big club, where talent varies greatly from player to player — you have grinding ECHL call-ups playing alongside future NHL snipers — putting together the kind of consistency that Malhotra's team has can be elusive.
Leave no doubt: What Malhotra has done with the Baby Canucks, landing them in the final four of the American Hockey League playoffs, has drawn notice around the NHL.
Under the former Canucks centre, Abbotsford had a 13-game win streak late in the regular season, even while missing a number of the team's stars to NHL call-ups and injury. And in the playoffs, his team has only got better — after their 44-24-2-2 regular season, Malhotra's crew is 8-4 in the playoffs, having dismissed Tucson, Coachella Valley and Colorado. Game 1 of the Western Conference final against the Texas Stars begins Thursday at the Abbotsford Centre.
