Set to become a restricted free agent this summer, Flames winger Matt Coronato has instead put pen to paper on his next deal early. The team announced that they’ve signed Coronato to a seven-year, $45.5MM extension, one that will carry an AAV of $6.5MM per season. PuckPedia reports the breakdown of the deal is as follows:
2025-26: $5MM salary, $2MM signing bonus
2026-27 through 2030-31: $6.5MM salary
2031-32: $6MM salary
The 22-year-old was a first-round pick by Calgary back in 2021, going 13th overall. The Flames took a gradual development strategy with Coronato after picking him, as he spent two years at Harvard before turning pro in 2023. He also didn’t go straight to the NHL as he spent half of his first full professional campaign in the AHL with the Wranglers where he had 42 points in 41 games before making the jump to a full-time NHL spot this season (aside from a two-game AHL stint in late October).
This season, Coronato finished tied with MacKenzie Weegar for third on the Flames in points with behind only Nazem Kadri and Jonathan Huberdeau. Meanwhile, his 24 goals put him third on the team in that department as well while he logged 17:35 per night of playing time. That performance was good enough to secure him a spot on Team USA’s roster for the upcoming Worlds but following the results of an MRI, he opted to withdraw from the team as a preventive measure to recover and train on schedule for next season.
While it’s not common for a team to hand out a long-term deal to a player with only one full NHL season under his belt and a total of just 112 career appearances at the top level, GM Craig Conroy has rightfully determined that Coronato is going to be one of Calgary’s building blocks for the present and future. With that in mind, it’s not surprising that getting a contract done was at the top of his to-do list this offseason.
It’s worth noting that Coronato had five years of club control remaining so they could have easily worked out a shorter-term agreement and then looked to lock him up on a more expensive pact down the road that would have kept him in the fold longer. Instead, they’ve opted for the long-term deal now, meaning that Calgary only gets two years of extra control with this agreement while Coronato receives a 10-team no-trade clause in those final two seasons; players aren’t eligible for trade protection in their RFA-eligible years.
With the signing, the Flames now have around $67.7MM in commitments for next season, per PuckPedia, leaving Conroy with nearly $28MM in cap room to work with this summer. Forwards Morgan Frost and Connor Zary along with defenseman Kevin Bahl are their most prominent remaining RFA-eligible players, while winger Anthony Mantha and goalie Daniel Vladar highlight their group of pending unrestricted free agents.
Photo courtesy of Brett Holmes-Imagn Images.
There’s a better than 50:50 chance this contract ages very well for the Flames.
Now, what’s the word on Zary?
Coronato is a nice player. Cooley is a nice player.
But, if every young player who has a nice season starts at $7 million or so a year that is the one thing that would make the full rebuild strategy untenable.
In two to three years, the Hawks will probably have 12 or more guys who were either first or second round picks needing new deals. Can’t pay them all at this pace.
What’s the hardest thing to do in the NHL? I’ll answer score goals. When those 12 players you mention all score around 25 goals in a single season then you can cross the bridge of 12 contracts at 7 million a year.
Also the hawks have been rebuilding for how long and have Bedard and who again?
How about a rookie defenseman that just broke the record fpr most assists.. some are saying his starting point is 10mil.. the kid (hutson) is a diminutive dman who struggles defensively and prone to giveaways making more money then habs star center and captain. Or more money then a constant norris nominee makar.. is just laughable.
Getting a shutout is harder.
If the flames can get those 3 RFAs signed for around 15 million they’d have around 13 million left for FA pretty easy to see them getting a top 6 forward, a top 4-5 D a backup goalie make a trade or 2 and they could easily be a contender
He’s a good player, he’ll be worth this contract.
He has one season under his belt. There is some risk associated with this extension. If he improves it’s a fair to good value. If he regresses at all it’s a failure of a contract.
His agent can thank the Blues GM for getting about a million more a year; offer sheet-itis has its vaccine…