It appears that tempers are starting to flare between the Calgary Flames and Matt Coronato’s camp.
Just days after the team opted to send the 21-year-old back to the AHL, a series of social media posts criticizing the Flames were re-posted by Coronato’s agent, James Haddad.
Both posts that Haddad decided to amplify were from Flames fans angry with Coronato’s demotion and languishing over the play of offseason signing Anthony Mantha. One of the posts included a section where they hoped that Coronato wouldn’t ask for a trade over the demotion.
That’s fairly normal discourse from the fanbase, but to have a player agent re-post that sort of thing is something entirely different and signals a bit of unrest between Coronato and the Flames.
Haddad has since gotten rid of those posts from his X timeline, but Daily Hive was able to snag screenshots before they were undone.
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Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman also weighed in on the matter in the latest 32 Thoughts podcast, saying that this may not go over well with the veteran players on the Flames.
“Generally, this has been a very positive start for [the Flames], and as frustrated as you might be as a prospect and as frustrated as you might be as an agent, you can’t do this stuff when the team is winning,” said Friedman. “I worry for Coronato that the veterans will look at this and say “Wait a second, we’re doing well, and this is what’s coming out?”… It’s not going to go over very well, and it’s going to have to be settled.”
Coronato is a former Flames first-round pick in 2021 who struggled to be a full-time NHL player. He did appear in 34 games with Calgary last season, picking up three goals and nine points. While he cracked the Flames out of training camp this season, he only lasted five games before being assigned back to the AHL.
He didn’t look terrible in that brief stint, notching two goals in that span, but it wasn’t enough in the eyes of Flames management to warrant him sticking around. With his agent now getting involved, a whole new story about the player has been created.
There isn’t much else that Coronato can do about the situation other than to continue to work at his craft in the AHL. If he catches fire down there, the team will have no choice but to give him another look.