‘Still have so much to prove’: Flames’ Coronato embracing expectations

CALGARY – Matt Coronato might be the only one who won’t put a number on it.

While the rest of the hockey world is hellbent on predicting how many goals the Flames winger will score this season, the soft-spoken New Yorker isn’t into productivity projections.

So we’ll let his coach do it for him.

“I do think Matt will be anywhere from a 25 to 40-goal guy,” said Flames bench boss Ryan Huska, who referred to the Harvard product as the team’s best pure goal scorer.

“Because of his skillset, the way he thinks the game, and the ability he has to shoot the puck, he’s going to find himself in those opportunities. I do feel he’s going to be a consistent goal scorer for us.”

The theme in Calgary through the first two days of training camp continues to revolve around finding ways for the exact same group to come up with ways to be even better than their 96-point season. 

Counting on youngsters like Coronato, Connor Zary, Adam Klapka and Martin Pospisil to collectively up their offence will be key to the Flames adding pop to the league’s fourth-lowest scoring team.

But no one is being looked at more than Coronato to up their game.

For proof, Coronato opened camp on the top line with Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri, with whom he may very well play alongside for years.

If the trio can continue building some of the chemistry that led to his success last spring, Coronato might be one of those roster pickups that poolies boast about for years.

“I’m not really into numbers,” shrugged the laid-back 22-year-old sniper when asked about his pre-season goals.

“I just want to keep getting better, and I want to win.”

Winning will be a whole lot easier for the Flames this season if their first-round finisher can continue upping his tucks.

Last year, his first full season in the NHL, he scored 24 times.

He then punctuated the year by signing a seven-year, $45.5 million contract extension over the summer.

Now the trick is to earn it.

Consistency is the key to pushing 40 goals in this league — a mark no Flame has hit since Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk and Elias Lindholm all did it four years ago.

And while expectations have been high surrounding Coronato since he was selected 13th overall in 2021, it was his improved play away from the puck last season that made him someone the coaches could trust to put into the lineup nightly.

Sent to the minors a year earlier to work on his defensive game and battles along the boards, he’s now a fixture late in almost every contest, capable of holding on to leads or pushing for an equalizer.

This year, the hope is that he’ll elevate to being a go-to guy the team so desperately needs.

“His development has come in not having to defer to the better players he’s on the ice with,” said Huska, who might even build his power play around Coronato, whose deadly release has been evident since junior.

“I don’t think he’s that way anymore. Now it’s about, ‘if I’m in the area, I’m shooting the puck, and I’m not going to worry whether it’s Huberdeau, or Kadri or (Mikael) Backlund, (Blake) Coleman, (Morgan) Frost or (Joel) Farabee. 

“I think he’s confident in who he is now, knowing he’s a really good player on our team and he doesn’t have to defer to some of the guys he may look up to.”

Plenty of Coronato’s confidence came in a late-season trip through his native New York, where he scored in all three games in front of friends and family. It propelled him to a strong finish that helped pace a team that fought to the end with an 11-2-3 record.

“There were a lot of moments for me that kind of built into it,” he said of the trip.

“I think that whole stretch the last month-and-a-half of the year, when we were fighting for that spot, was just so much fun, and I think it gave a lot of us confidence in what this group can do.

“As much as it sucked we didn’t get in, I think it kind of left some excitement on the table that we can be in this position again, and we can push a little bit harder and get where we want to be.”

A goal-a-game scorer in the USHL, goals are what will forever be expected most from the 5-foot-10, 183-pound winger.

“I think for me, a young player, I still have so much to prove,” said Coronato. 

“It’s the same mindset it’s always been, just continue to improve, pick up on any little things I can to keep helping this team win and get to the playoffs.”