Inside Matt Coronato’s rise from AHLer to Flames’ first-liner​on February 8, 2025 at 10:01 pm

There have been a lot of statement-sorta nights during this breakout season for Calgary Flames right-winger Matt Coronato.

In the eyes of his boss, Oct. 25 was among the most impressive of all.

Before you scramble to check the scoring summaries, a couple things you should know …

Coronato was, on that particular day, demoted for what turned out to be a brief return to the American Hockey League.

You will find him listed as a healthy scratch that evening for the Wranglers. In fact, the Flames’ brass told him he wasn’t required to report to the rink until the next morning.

“When guys get sent down, it’s up to you, with the attitude that you go down with,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska earlier this season. “The night he got sent down, he didn’t play for the Wranglers, but he went to their game and was in the locker-room after the game after a win, when he could have easily just stayed at home because we didn’t ask him to go.

“That just shows you about the type of person that he is.”

Coronato was recalled a few days later after two twirls with the farm club and continues to show what type of player he is, too.

The type that won’t be going back in the minors.

The type that was, for Saturday’s late date with the Seattle Kraken, skating with Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri on the top line.

It’s a combination many Flames fans have been clamouring to see, and understandably so. Huberdeau, Kadri and Coronato are 1-2-3 on the team scoring charts.

“I’m excited,” said the 22-year-old Coronato after Saturday’s morning skate at the Saddledome. “It’s a good opportunity for me to just go out and try to keep playing the same way and help the team win.”

Coronato has, ever since he was selected in the first round of the 2021 NHL Draft, been one of those names bolded on the Flames’ future plan.

Still the youngest dude on the roster, this sophomore pro has already emerged as a key ingredient for the recipe to win games right now. Saturday’s promotion is just the latest proof of that.

The Flames likely would have tried it sooner, except that Coronato has been such a nice fit with Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman on what has been Calgary’s most consistent and reliable forward trio.

“With the more games that he’s played and the roles that he’s earned along the way, because he’s deserved to be playing the minutes that he’s playing right now, I think he’s gained a lot of belief in his ability at this level,” Huska said of Coronato’s top-line look. “At the beginning of the year, if we would have thrown him with guys like that, it maybe wouldn’t have gone all that well. He needed the time to build his resume, I think, for himself at this level, and now he’s there.