The Calgary Flames had a hell of a performance last night despite it being a losing effort.
Dustin Wolf truly showed the NHL that he belongs in the NHL and the team went toe-for-toe with Winnipeg; easily the best team in the NHL so far this season.
That being said it’s not all roses so far as there are still plenty of games left and roster decisions to make. One of the most intriguing ones is Matt Coronato’s usage in the interim and long term.
Coronato, the Flames first-round pick in 2021, was assigned to the AHL to enable the team to activate Yegor Sharangovich off of the injured reserve. Many were confused by the move, as Coronato was coming off a two-goal performance against the Chicago Blackhawks just over a week ago.
Well turns out his agent has the same confusion and frustration.
Coronato turning into Sam Bennett 2.0
Coronato’s agent, John Kofi Osei-Tutu, has always been an active member of the Flames community on Twitter/X. He has a strong client base, with Coronato being one of the strongest players. So, when an agent sees his player getting the short end of the stick, he’s going to call it out.
There were two key tweets in question that he amplified:
This is nowhere near Allan Walsh’s levels of hate, but it’s quite telling to know what his opinions are of his players handling with the Flames.
The best part is Osei-Tutu is one billion percent correct. Among Flames forwards, Matt Coronato is 3rd in CF%, and 1st in xGF%, SCF%, and HDCF%. Coronato has shown he can be an effective scorer and player at the NHL level but has not gotten a consistent enough opportunity to showcase that. It reminds you a lot of Sam Bennett who never got consistent top-six minutes, yet went to thrive in that type of role somewhere else.
The Flames have some hard roster moves to make, but keeping players like Kevin Rooney, Adam Klapka, and Joel Hanley on the NHL roster is limiting their prospect’s growth. Now perhaps they need to see more immediately like Martin Pospisil and Connor Zary to warrant a long enough runway. An argument can be made that Coronato has already shown enough to justify that position.
The worst part of all of this is Coronato is in a contract year, as his entry-level contract will be done at the end of this season. He also has a significant amount of his deal this year related to performance bonuses. All around being sent down to the AHL does not benefit Coronato, his agent, or the team.
Let’s hope that this is temporary and does not come to blows later this season.
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