In advance of the Calgary Flames’ clash with the New Jersey Devils on Friday night, they’ve made a pair of roster moves. The club announced on Thursday afternoon that they’ve assigned forward Sam Honzek to the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers. In a corresponding move, they’ve called up Matt Coronato from the Wranglers.

The 19-year-old Honzek was the Flames’ first-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. A Slovakian import who played his junior hockey with the Vancouver Giants, Honzek made the NHL roster out of training camp after a superb performance in the pre-season. He’s played five NHL games and not yet registered a point. He hasn’t played poorly by any stretch, but he also hasn’t really been a difference-maker and with the Flames in a bit of a slide, giving him a chance to play a bit at the AHL level sounds like a good idea.

The 21-year-old Coronato was the Flames’ first-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft. A scorer with the United States Hockey League’s Chicago Steel and the NCAA’s Harvard Crimson, he’s yet to carve out a full-time NHL niche for himself, but he’s shown flashes of brilliance in the NHL and AHL. Coronato has two goals in five NHL games this season and two goals in two AHL games, too.

If this feels familiar, it’s because almost exactly a year ago, general manager Craig Conroy called up Connor Zary and Martin Pospisil from the Wranglers to give a reeling Flames team a jolt of youthful energy, while sending Coronato down to get some AHL game time in. Zary and Pospisil ended up becoming NHL regulars and the Flames seemed to find their mojo again.

We’ll see if this forward swap has the same impact.

The Wranglers host the San Diego Gulls on Thursday night. The Flames host the New Jersey Devils on Friday night.