By the end of the month, he was cleared by doctors to play in the Stanley Cup Finals. Though he remained out of the lineup for Game 1, he returned for the following contest and played the rest of the series as the team's fourth-line centre (late-season acquisition Maxim Lapierre filled in for Malhotra on the third line). Playing against the Boston Bruins, the Finals went to a seventh game, which the Canucks lost. Malhotra's regular season performance earned him six first-place votes out of 125 for the Selke Trophy. He ranked fifth in balloting, as teammate Ryan Kesler won the distinction at the year-end Awards Ceremony. Having lost a significant amount of his vision in his left eye, Malhotra struggled in his first full season since the injury in 2011–12. He was supplanted as the Canucks' third-line centre by rookie Cody Hodgson and later Samuel Påhlsson. Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault assessed Malhotra during the season as "not the same physical player he was before", adding, "He's still contributing but not maybe to the degree that he was before he got injured." Playing left wing on the fourth line, he remained an integral part of the team by playing on the penalty kill and taking important defensive zone faceoffs. Near the end of the campaign, Malhotra was chosen as the Canucks' nominee for the Bill Masterton Trophy, an annual NHL award for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. With a diminished offensive role, Malhotra finished his second season in Vancouver with 7 goals and 18 points over 78 games, as well as a –10 plus-minus rating. However, he remained among the league's elite in terms of faceoffs, ranking fourth with a 58.5% winning percentage. Continuing to struggle with his eye injury, Malhotra was put on the injured reserve a month into the 2012–13 season. Fearing for his long-term health, Canucks general manager Mike Gillis took him out of the lineup for the season, a decision that he described as the "hardest thing [he has] done in [his] job". Malhotra had appeared in nine games without recording a point. Carolina Hurricanes At the end of the 2013 NHL season, Malhotra became an unrestricted free agent. After being unsigned by an NHL team at the start of the 2013–14 season and looking to continue his playing career Malhotra signed a 25-game professional try out (PTO) contract with the AHL's Charlotte Checkers.