Calgary Flames recall forward Matt Coronato from the AHL’s Wranglers

On Thursday night, Calgary Flames top nine winger Martin Pospisil was injured in the first period against the Toronto Maple Leafs. In response to Pospisil’s absence from the lineup, the Flames have recalled forward Matt Coronato from the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers.

The 21-year-old Coronato was the Flames’ first-round selection, 13th overall, in the 2021 NHL Draft. He made his NHL debut in the final game of the Flames’ 2022-23 season and made their roster out of training camp back in October. But the Flames’ general lack of cohesion led to line churn, which really hurt their ability to give Coronato a regular role – and Coronato’s opportunity to grab hold of one. Coronato was swapped down to the AHL at the beginning of November, switching roster spots with 2020 first-rounder Connor Zary.

Since then, both players have thrived. Playing on the left side of Nazem Kadri almost exclusively, Zary has nine goals and 22 points in 35 NHL games. Playing on the right side of the Wranglers’ top line with a few different linemates, Coronato has 12 goals and 29 points in 27 AHL games – succeeding to the point where Flames general manager Craig Conroy and president of hockey operations Don Maloney remarked in separate interviews, unprompted, about how well he was doing. They just needed the right spot for him.

Pospisil is reportedly out for a couple weeks. There’s a spot open on the right side of Zary and Kadri, at least for a little while. Now Coronato gets a second chance to show his quality at the NHL level. And undoubtedly, he’s hoping that his work between now and whenever Pospisil is back at 100% make any decision to return Coronato back to the AHL really, really difficult – in much the same way Zary has made it basically impossible to send him back to the farm.

Coronato’s call-up gives the Flames 23 players on their active roster: three goaltenders, six defencemen and 14 forwards.

The Flames are back in action on Saturday against the Edmonton Oilers.