Coronato joins elite Calgary Flames company with latest achievement
What a season it’s been for Calgary Flames forward Matt Coronato.
The second-year pro has progressed like nobody would have imagined in 2024-25, becoming a true offensive threat for the Flames night in and night out. It’s been a pleasant surprise for a player who scored just three goals and nine points in 34 NHL games a season ago.
Thanks to a two-assist outing last night, Coronato is up to 39 points in 65 outings this season. Even more impressive is that 20 of those points are goals, two of which came on Saturday afternoon in a 4-3 overtime victory over the New York Islanders.
The Long Island kid, Matt Coronato, scores his second of the game against his hometown team! š
Watch Flames vs. Islanders on Sportsnet šŗ pic.twitter.com/2RJsPErB66
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) March 22, 2025
Not only did reaching the 20-goal mark help earn Coronato a $212,500 bonus, but it also resulted in him joining some pretty elite Flames company.
Pretty impressive company for Matt Coronato to be a part of pic.twitter.com/9BZp8gKOSn
— FlamesNation (@FlamesNation) March 26, 2025
Coronato joined a short list that includes Sean Monahan, Matthew Tkachuk, Johnny Gaudreau, and Dion Phaneuf as the only Flames players since 2000-01 to score 20 or more goals in a season before the age of 23. It’s a great reminder of just how good of a player he is becoming right in front of our eyes.
“His shot is lethal,” Huberdeau remarked about his young teammate days ago. “He works hard. He’s a guy that’s going to be a real superstar in this league, for sure.”
That shot that’s been on display so many times this season played a big part in the Flames selecting Coronato 13th overall in the 2021 draft. He was viewed as one of the best natural goal scorers entering the draft, coming off of a season in the USHL where he scored 48 goals in only 51 games.
There’s been excitement surrounding Coronato ever since, as he excelled in two seasons at Harvard before splitting his rookie season between the NHL and AHL. He didn’t look quite NHL-ready a season ago, but that’s changed entirely in 2024-25. As Huberdeau alluded to, the best is yet to come for the goal-scoring winger.