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.