Jay Pandolfo says he saw this coming long before Caleb Malhotra became a first-round pick.
Three summers ago, at an off-season camp in Montreal, Pandolfo was watching a 15-year-old Malhotra and immediately noticed the traits that would separate him from the pack. At the time, Pandolfo was heading into his second season as Boston University’s head coach. What stood out then was simple enough.
“you could see his understanding of the game, his hockey sense.”
That early read looks pretty sharp now. Malhotra, 18, went No. 3 overall to the Vancouver Canucks in June after a breakout season with the Brantford Bulldogs, where he piled up 29 goals and 84 points. This fall, he’ll move on to Boston University and join Pandolfo’s freshman class.
Pandolfo still remembers that first look clearly.
“Little things he did out there you noticed. He just stood out,” Pandolfo recalled of that viewing years ago.
“And he’s just continuing to get better. This past year he’s really taken off.
He’s bigger, stronger, all those things. I think that’s really helped him.
I think there’s a confidence to go along with that, and he obviously played on a really good team (with Brantford).
Malhotra’s path to college hockey has been shaped by the NCAA’s recent scholarship rule change, which opened the door this past season for players from Major Junior leagues. But because he had already committed to Boston University before the rule was altered, he spent 2024-25 with the Chilliwack Chiefs of the BCHL instead.
That year gave him a chance to keep building. He scored eight goals and finished with 26 points in 44 regular-season games for Chilliwack, then stepped up again in the playoffs with five goals and 17 points in 21 postseason games.
The NCAA voted in November 2024 to make the scholarship change effective the following August. Around that same stretch, Brantford made a move for his OHL rights, trading with the Kingston Frontenacs in September 2024 and giving up two draft picks and three conditional draft picks. Kingston had originally selected Malhotra with the No. 8 pick in the 2024 OHL Draft.
He handled the jump to the OHL smoothly, and now comes another step up with the college game. Malhotra is expected to be one of the youngest players in the NCAA, where experience is a real edge. According to Elite Prospects, last season there were 47 teams with an average age of 22 or older.
Pandolfo sees a player who should fit into Boston University’s lineup in a variety of ways.
“I expect him to help us in all areas,” Pandolfo said of Malhotra, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound left-handed shot. “The centre position for us - as it is with most teams - is really important and we think he’ll be able to help us both offensively and defensively because of his skill set.
“There’s going to be growing pains for him, I’m sure. He’ll be going against guys who are 23, 24 years old on a regular basis.
I think probably the biggest thing is the pace and the strength of players for guys (moving up from junior). It has nothing to do with skill level or any of that.
But it’s obviously a level up.”
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