With Yegor Sharangovich&#8217;s return to the Calgary Flames lineup, a roster decision had to be made. General manager Craig Conroy and the Flames coaching staff decided to send Matt Coronato down to the American Hockey League to get more playing time than he received at the NHL level.
The decision to demote Coronato was met with both acceptance and derision from fans in Calgary. Coronato is only 21 years old, so he still has plenty of time to find his footing in an NHL lineup, but he looked to be off to a solid start in 2024-25 with two goals in five games before being sent down.
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Along with the backlash from the public, Coronato&#8217;s agent, John Kofi Osei-Tutu, retweeted some Flames fans who shared their distaste for the decision on Twitter/X. Coronato&#8217;s other agent/advisor, James Haddad, retweeted the same things:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Matt Coronato&#8217;s agent is having a moment today. <a href="https://t.co/qaddHtfAAB">pic.twitter.com/qaddHtfAAB</a>
— Jay Hope (@_jhope1923) <a href="https://twitter.com/_jhope1923/status/1850918569246171618?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2024</a></blockquote>
There have been plenty of instances where players&#8217; agents or representatives go to the internet to voice their displeasure with how a team has treated their clients. An infamous example is the Allan Walsh and Marc-Andre Fleury debacle with the Vegas Golden Knights when Walsh posted a graphic of Fleury being stabbed with a sword through his back, the blade reading &#8220;DeBoer.&#8221;
While this example isn&#8217;t as inflammatory as that captionless Twitter post was, it&#8217;s still a showcase of how the Coronato camp feels about the Flames&#8217; decision to drop Coronato to a league he has proven himself in time and time again. It gained enough traction for Elliotte Friedman to talk about it on the <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/podcasts/32-thoughts/">most recent 32 Thoughts podcast</a>.
<blockquote>“Generally, this has been a very positive start for [the Flames],&#8221; Friedman said. &#8220;And as frustrated as you might be as a prospect and as frustrated as you might be as an agent, you can’t do this stuff when the team is winning. I worry for Coronato that the veterans will look at this and say, &#8216;Wait a second, we’re doing well, and this is what’s coming out?&#8217;… It’s not going to go over very well, and it’s going to have to be settled.”</blockquote>
With the Flames&#8217; overall positive start to the season, the repost from Coronato&#8217;s representatives seem poorly timed. No player wants him or his camp to be the cause of distractions for the team off the ice, and the retweets have since been taken down.
Fortunately, the air has been cleared since the reposts happened. Osei-Tutu reportedly spoke to Conroy about the issue, saying to Sportsnet&#8217;s Eric Francis that there is &#8220;no controversy&#8221; and that he has full faith in the Flames staff to do right by his player.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
&#8220;I spoke to Craig Conroy and there is no controversy &#8211; we have confidence Matt (Coronato) will earn his opportunity and we trust the Flames will do the right thing for Matt Coronato.&#8221; &#8211; Coronato&#8217;s agent, John Osei-Tutu, following talk the Coronato camp is unhappy w his demotion
— Eric Francis (@EricFrancis) <a href="https://twitter.com/EricFrancis/status/1851007719962263725?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2024</a></blockquote>
The fact that Coronato doesn&#8217;t require waivers to be sent down is a huge reason why he was the choice. Performance-wise, there weren&#8217;t many instances of him making mistakes or not contributing in one way or another to make him expendable. Despite the slight bump in the road, it feels as if Coronato returning to the NHL (and, most importantly, sticking there) is not too far away.

With Yegor Sharangovich's return to the Calgary Flames lineup, a roster decision had to be made. General manager Craig Conroy and the Flames coaching staff decided to send Matt Coronato down to the American Hockey League to get more playing time than he received at the NHL level.

The decision to demote Coronato was met with both acceptance and derision from fans in Calgary. Coronato is only 21 years old, so he still has plenty of time to find his footing in an NHL lineup, but he looked to be off to a solid start in 2024-25 with two goals in five games before being sent down.
<div class="bam-inline-promotion-block" data-max-length="2" data-placement-id="2109" data-context="web-content-promocard" data-property-id="328"></div>
Along with the backlash from the public, Coronato's agent, John Kofi Osei-Tutu, retweeted some Flames fans who shared their distaste for the decision on Twitter/X. Coronato's other agent/advisor, James Haddad, retweeted the same things:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Matt Coronato's agent is having a moment today. <a href="https://t.co/qaddHtfAAB">pic.twitter.com/qaddHtfAAB</a>
— Jay Hope (@_jhope1923) <a href="https://twitter.com/_jhope1923/status/1850918569246171618?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2024</a></blockquote>
There have been plenty of instances where players' agents or representatives go to the internet to voice their displeasure with how a team has treated their clients. An infamous example is the Allan Walsh and Marc-Andre Fleury debacle with the Vegas Golden Knights when Walsh posted a graphic of Fleury being stabbed with a sword through his back, the blade reading "DeBoer."

While this example isn't as inflammatory as that captionless Twitter post was, it's still a showcase of how the Coronato camp feels about the Flames' decision to drop Coronato to a league he has proven himself in time and time again. It gained enough traction for Elliotte Friedman to talk about it on the <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/podcasts/32-thoughts/">most recent 32 Thoughts podcast</a>.
<blockquote>“Generally, this has been a very positive start for [the Flames]," Friedman said. "And as frustrated as you might be as a prospect and as frustrated as you might be as an agent, you can’t do this stuff when the team is winning. I worry for Coronato that the veterans will look at this and say, 'Wait a second, we’re doing well, and this is what’s coming out?'… It’s not going to go over very well, and it’s going to have to be settled.”</blockquote>
With the Flames' overall positive start to the season, the repost from Coronato's representatives seem poorly timed. No player wants him or his camp to be the cause of distractions for the team off the ice, and the retweets have since been taken down.

Fortunately, the air has been cleared since the reposts happened. Osei-Tutu reportedly spoke to Conroy about the issue, saying to Sportsnet's Eric Francis that there is "no controversy" and that he has full faith in the Flames staff to do right by his player.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
"I spoke to Craig Conroy and there is no controversy - we have confidence Matt (Coronato) will earn his opportunity and we trust the Flames will do the right thing for Matt Coronato." - Coronato's agent, John Osei-Tutu, following talk the Coronato camp is unhappy w his demotion
— Eric Francis (@EricFrancis) <a href="https://twitter.com/EricFrancis/status/1851007719962263725?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2024</a></blockquote>
The fact that Coronato doesn't require waivers to be sent down is a huge reason why he was the choice. Performance-wise, there weren't many instances of him making mistakes or not contributing in one way or another to make him expendable. Despite the slight bump in the road, it feels as if Coronato returning to the NHL (and, most importantly, sticking there) is not too far away.

Matt Coronato’s agent quells rumours of controversy about AHL assignment

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