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.