Vancouver Canucks News and rumors: Novotny, Malhotra and a two-track future – Hockey Writers – Vancouver Canucks

It’s been a few days since the 2026 NHL draft now, and the buzz around it is starting to die down a bit. This is where you can often find out what the team was trying to do, rather than reacting to selections in real time.

For the Vancouver Canucks, the draft ended up being one of those “different personalities” weekends. On the other hand, they take a big swing up and down. On the other hand, they doubled in structure, responsibility, and ice stability. Taken together, it wasn’t terribly flashy—it’s more controlled than that—but it still tells you something about where this organization thinks it is right now.

In the first round, the Canucks went with two very different players: Adam Novotny at 24th overall and Caleb Malhotra at 3rd overall. There’s a lot to come starting July 1st with free agency.

Novotny’s pick, in retrospect, looked like the Canucks were betting on traits over results. At 24 overall, they took a wing player who has always lived in that awkward draft space between “unpolished” and “too interesting to ignore.” Novotny’s game is built on straight line power. If it faces north to south, he looks like a player who can beat defenders with speed, power, and a hard shot that doesn’t need a lot of space to be dangerous.

There were times in his draft year when he looked exactly like the players he was sure would be drafted. Strong puck battles, strong forechecking, and a willingness to go to the net all appeared regularly. When he gets physically involved, he can tilt shifts just by making life uncomfortable for defenders.

The question has always been that. The offense doesn’t always flow cleanly, and the playmaking side of his game hasn’t caught up to the green tools. That’s why he entered the 20s instead of pushing for the top division of the forwards. But that’s also why Vancouver probably loved him.

This was a bet on development more than certainty. If Novotny scores, you could be looking at a powerful winger who can provide you with 20 goals and valuable power in the middle of the six. If he doesn’t fully develop the offense, he still looks like a player here who can play an NHL role with speed, effort, and physicality. It was not a safe choice. But it wasn’t reckless either. It was the classic “we can work with this” option.

Caleb Malhotra: Third Base Pick Overall

If Novotny was the pivot, Caleb Malhotra was the anchor. Taking him third overall was less about a highlight-reel high and more about who he is. Malhotra’s game is built on routines. He’s responsible defensively, he’s mature in all three areas, and he’s already playing as a time-and-space center at the NHL level.

Obviously there’s a little weight that comes with the name—the son of Manny Malhotra, with a family connection to athletics that extends to other sports—but what stood out about his breakout year wasn’t the storyline. It was the way his game was already established.

Offensively, he hasn’t proven to be as good a driver as Connor McDavid or Auston Matthews as a scorer, even in elite terms. The expectation is with a top-tier second line or third line center who can handle tough minutes and make life easier for everyone around him.

Think of that type of player who doesn’t fill the highlight reels, but ends up playing 18-20 minutes in the playoffs because the coaches trust him not to make mistakes when things get tough. That’s what Vancouver bought into.

It also fits the way teams are built in today’s NHL. You can lay the blame on the department, but institutions often define your structure. Malhotra gives them something they’ve needed for a long time: a potential long-term solution in the middle of nowhere that doesn’t need shelter.

There’s also a quiet fun about the pressure that comes with the name. Manny Malhotra has never had a long road as an offensive center in the NHL. His son now gets a very different opportunity—to be able to carve out a big offensive role for a program that clearly believes in him to take him to the third overall.

What The Draft Really Told Us About Vancouver

Looking back on both picks, the Canucks didn’t chase a single possession. They are trying to combine the two. Novotny was an upside bet. It’s the type of pick you choose if you still want a punch of points and believe you can improve the rough edges over time. Malhotra was the bet of the plot. It’s the kind of choice you make if you want to stabilize yourself and the ice for a long time.

And that combination actually says a lot about where this organization seems to be sitting. They don’t rebuild from scratch, but they don’t push everything into a finished program. It’s a mixed bag—try to build a core in the middle, while rotating players who can raise the offensive ceiling. That is not an easy balance. But it is true.

What’s next for the Canucks?

A few days removed from the draft, the Canucks’ class doesn’t look like a splashy-headline-grabber. It looks like a two-track system: one player who could develop into a scoring piece, and another who already looks like he can define the team’s formation down the middle.

It’s early, obviously. It’s too early to know how any of this plays out. But if you step back from the noise of draft night, Vancouver didn’t walk away empty-handed. They just came away with two very different ideas of what the future might look like, and both, in their own way, make sense.