It’s often been one of the most bizarre parts of the NHL combine.

When the NHL’s best draft prospects convene in one spot for the combine, there’s been a history of strange questions being asked during the interview process.

Back in 2010, Taylor Hall admitted he was asked which family member he would take with him if his country was being invaded.

“It was just a weird question,” he said at the time.

The tradition of peculiarity has continued in recent years. Two years ago, the Montreal Canadiens asked a prospect whether they would pick up $10 off a toilet seat or $50 from the toilet bowl. Last year, the Ottawa Senators asked prospects to tell them a joke.

Some strange traditions don’t change. And, thanks to the son of Vancouver Canucks head coach, Manny Malhotra, we learned about another unusual interview question.

Potential Canucks draft pick, Caleb Malhotra, revealed that he was asked a bizarre question during the interview process on Friday.

“They were asking: ‘if you were on a desert island and there’s no water for a day’s walk away, and there’s someone with a water bottle beside you, would you kill them and take the water?’”

“I think that’s pretty crazy,” Malhotra said.

Malhotra added that he forgot which team asked him the question.

Last year, Montreal apparently asked a similar question. They asked prospects if they were stranded in a desert with someone with only a bottle of water and a baseball bat, you can’t share the water, and the other person takes the water first, what do you do with the bat?

Even if Montreal wasn’t the guilty party in Malhotra’s bizarre inquiry, they did leave an impression on prospects again at the 2026 combine.

“Montreal made me throw a puck into a garbage can to test my confidence and see how far back I was willing to go to make the puck in the bucket,” Chase Reid said. “I missed.”

Malhotra said Montreal asked him to do the same thing, but that he missed as well.

Bizarre questions aside, not being able to throw pucks in a garbage can from distance shouldn’t affect either Malhotra or Reid’s stock. Both players are viable options for the Canucks at third overall at the NHL draft on June 26.