Calgary's 2021 first-round draft choice Matt Coronato loves to score and wants the game on his stick. The Flames need a player with that mindset.
Calgary's 2021 first-round draft choice Matt Coronato loves to score and wants the game on his stick. The Flames need a player with that mindset.
Matt Coronato’s name will become more and more prominent over the coming days.
Whether the Calgary Flames are en route to punching their ticket to the Stanley Cup playoffs, continue to try scratching and clawing their way or are eliminated, the Coronato watch will be a must-follow.
This we do know as Coronato's sophomore season has ended:
• Coronato, the 20-year-old forward selected 13th overall in 2021 and his Harvard teammates were eliminated on Friday in the opening round of the NCAA tournament, and general manager Brad Treliving was on-hand.
• The Flames have every intention of signing him as soon as possible. Rest assured, as soon as he puts pen to paper, they will whisk him to wherever the club is playing. The Flames have the salary cap space to add Coronato if he joins them at the conclusion of his sophomore season.
• Just as importantly, Coronato — who was named to the all-ECAC second team — has shown every intention of signing when he is ready, without any hints the club has an Adam Fox situation on its hands. Fox, also a Harvard standout, wouldn’t sign with the Flames, was traded away and now is one of the league’s best defensemen.
What we do not know is exactly how Coronato’s game will translate into the NHL. The 5-10, 185-lb. forward has excelled at every level en route to today and compiled 20 goals and 36 points in 34 games..
He boasts another number that has watchers excited, five game-winning goals, tops on the club that lost in the ECAC final last Saturday. Successful teams must have a game-breaker and a player who wants the winning shot on his stick. From all the Flames have seen, Coronato relishes that opportunity.
“He just wants to be a player,” Flames assistant general manager Craig Conroy said. “He wants to be the best player. He wants the puck at the crucial months and at the crucial time.
“With the good can come the bad. If the game’s on his stick and he doesn’t score, it can be tough on a player, and you want to shield them from that, but it’s in his personality to be the guy when the game’s on the line.”
The onus will be on Coronato to prove he has the talent to be that player. The knock on him is his skating, but the same has been said of Calgary’s leading goal scorer, Tyler Toffoli, who is on the cusp of another 30-goal season.
Craig Button, the former Flames GM who is now an analyst for TSN and focused on scouting prospects, noted that Coronato’s ability to light the lamp in more than one way is one strength that can not be overlooked.
“He’s got a really good shot, but he’s also good around the net, deflecting pucks and getting on rebounds. He can score on the rush because he’s always pushing the defenders back,” Button said.
“I’ve seen him so many times attack the defensemen, use his release on the rush — which gets the defenders turned around, and he beats them to the rebounds.
“He understands to score goals requires paying a price where you have to pay a price. He plays hard and he plays hard all the way to the net.”
Another element is whether the Flames can insert Coronato into the lineup if he puts pen to paper. It is easy to say the Flames should guarantee Coronato will play one game or more if that is what it takes for him to turn pro. However, that becomes a difficult and maybe even impossible promise until the Flames have clinched a spot or are eliminated from what will be a wide-open Western Conference in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Expect the Flames to do what they can to find the right bridge. After all, everybody knows what is at stake.
“The Calgary Flames have a gaping hole at right wing,” Button said. “And Matt Coronato looks like an ideal fit.”