On Friday afternoon, the Calgary Flames officially announced that they have sent forward Matt Coronato down to their American Hockey League affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers.
We’ve assigned forward Matt Coronato to the @AHLWranglers.#Flames | @original16beer pic.twitter.com/awpFa32MpQ
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) October 25, 2024
In a move that has elicited mixed reviews among the Flames fanbase, Coronato has been sent down to the AHL as Yegor Sharangovich, the team’s leading goal-scorer from last season, nears a return from injury.
Sharangovich was hurt in the preseason finale and has been inching closer to a regular season debut, which will come at the cost of a forward on the current roster — and on Friday, the Flames decided on cutting the 21-year-old Coronato.
Other forwards could have been sent down, but some of them would require waivers while Coronato does not, giving general manager Craig Conroy an easy choice.
The good news is that Coronato has been performing well in this stint of his NHL career. In five games, he has two goals, but most importantly, the foundations of his play and underlying numbers have been strong. According to Natural Stat Trick, Coronato currently sports the second-best 5-on-5 expected goals for percentage (xGF%) on the Flames behind Tyson Barrie, who has played three fewer games. His 60.87% mark is 3.1 percent higher than the next-highest Flames player, Mikael Backlund.
At just 21, there are still plenty of areas in his game where Coronato could use some work. He’s closer to an NHLer now than he was a calendar year ago, but he is still young and deserves plenty of playing time, which he’ll get with the Wranglers.
Last season, Coronato scored 42 points in 41 AHL games. He finished third on the team in scoring, but he was the only player on the roster that finished the season with over a point per game. The two players ahead of him, Adam Klapka and Ben Jones, played 65 and 72 games, respectively.
It shouldn’t be long before Coronato returns to the top level. The Flames can use his speed and goal-scoring prowess to keep their hot start to the season moving in the right direction. However, he’s averaging just over 12 minutes of ice time per game, and since he doesn’t have to go through waivers, it will be good for him to have copious amounts of playing time in the interim.
The Flames are slated to return to action on Saturday night to take on the Winnipeg Jets at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary.
