Flames sign former first-round pick to seven-year extension

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 $67.7M in commitments for next season, per PuckPedia, leaving Conroy with nearly $28M 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.