In an oh-so-predictable twist, the Calgary Flames had to call in a sub for their game against Edmonton after Martin Pospisil was side-lined with an injury. No drum roll needed here, folks: the Flames have hoisted Matthew Coronato from the AHL Calgary trenches, as they flamboyantly tweeted to the world.
Now, let’s wax poetic about Coronato. This kid, just twenty-one years fresh, was snagged by Calgary in the 2021 draft, thirteenth overall – talk about lucky number thirteen, am I right? Since then, he’s been donned as the prince that was promised, or so the Calgary faithful would have you believe. After strutting his stuff at Harvard and basically making a point-per-game his baseline, he decided to ditch the educational endeavors for the allure of pro hockey.
His adventure started off with a bit of a whimper, though, with Coronato only managing to cobble together one goal and one assist in his first ten big league games. Unimpressed, or perhaps feeling magnanimous, Calgary banished him to the Wranglers for what we’ll call an extended “playdate.” The plan? Let the kid play with the big(ger) boys and find his groove. Lo and behold, the young gun racked up a sweet twelve goals and seventeen assists in twenty-seven games! He even scored himself an All-Star nod, which I guess is akin to being crowned homecoming king in the AHL.
The burning question remains: how will Calgary play their new-old toy? Are they going to baby him with meager minutes like those rookie days of yore, where he barely scraped up to fourteen minutes a night? Or will they thrust him into the spotlight, betting on his hot hands to stay en fuego? If they opt for option deux, maybe, just maybe, Coronato will shine brighter than his initial dim flicker. Let’s not hold our collective breaths, but hey, anything can happen in the high-stakes world of throwing rubber discs into nets, right?