entire campaign. The night before the deadline, Malhotra and the Rangers agreed to a three-year deal worth the rookie-maximum of $975,000 with performance-based incentives that could have increased his salary to $2 million. Making the immediate jump from junior to the NHL at age 18, he became the second player of Indian heritage to play in the NHL. Malhotra recorded 8 goals and 16 points over 73 games as a rookie. During the season, the Rangers were interested in acquiring Vancouver Canucks forward Pavel Bure. It was reported that Canucks general manager Brian Burke had requested Malhotra to be involved in a trade that would have sent him along with Niklas Sundström, Dan Cloutier and the Rangers' first-round pick in the 1999 draft in exchange for Bure. However, Rangers general manager Neil Smith refused to include Malhotra and the deal never materialized. The following season, Malhotra struggled to earn a regular spot on the Rangers' roster and was often a healthy scratch. Rangers head coach John Muckler publicly declared before the beginning of Malhotra's second NHL campaign that he would be nothing more than a career third-liner. Malhotra's potential was often at the centre of an ongoing dispute between Muckler and Smith. Malhotra suffered an ankle injury in November that sidelined him for four games. Upon his recovery, his play was judged by team management to have suffered and he began to be benched. Meanwhile, the Canadian national junior team wanted the Rangers to loan him to them for the 2000 World Junior Championships. On December 12, 1999, general manager Neil Smith obliged and assigned Malhotra for the international tournament. He was then sent for a two-week conditioning assignment with the Rangers' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack. On March 14, 2000, he was sent back down to the OHL in order to retain his eligibility for later AHL assignment in the season. Malhotra had dressed for only four games in the two months between his return from the World Junior Championships in early-January and his junior reassignment. He was pointless in the 27 games total he played with the Rangers that season. Returning to Guelph, he played in five regular season and six playoff games. Upon his junior club's first-round playoff elimination, he was reassigned to the Wolf Pack where he recorded 1 goal and 6 points over 12 games to finish the regular season. He