The Calgary Flames have spent a long time looking for a true number-one centre, and the search has never really stopped. Sean Monahan was supposed to be that player, but recurring injuries and a string of surgeries ended that path in Calgary. Elias Lindholm helped fill the void for a while and turned in a couple of strong seasons, but he never became the superstar centre the Flames wanted him to be.
Now Morgan Frost is handling top-line centre duties for the current roster, and his career faceoff rate sits at 50.7%. With the Flames stumbling through a rough opening to the season, the club has tried plenty of different combinations. One of the more interesting ones has been moving Matt Coronato into the middle.
That does not mean Coronato is suddenly the answer to a franchise problem that has lingered since the days of Gaudreau and Tkachuk. He is not going to be the centre the Flames build around for the next decade. But if he can continue to hold his own on draws, giving the 23-year-old sniper some reps at centre is at least worth exploring.
Coronato is naturally a right-winger, and that has been his home for most of his professional career. He has also spent some time on the left side. The right side is where he feels most comfortable, but the centre idea is not coming out of nowhere.
The groundwork goes back to his 2022-23 NCAA season at Harvard University, when Coronato briefly served as the Harvard Crimson’s top-line centre. Even in that limited sample, he posted a 56.6% faceoff win rate, which stands out for a player who usually does not play the position.
That is the appeal for Calgary. The Flames do not need Coronato to become their long-term answer down the middle.
They just need him to be usable, dependable, and capable of giving them an edge in the faceoff circle. If he can do that through the rest of the 2026-27 season, it opens up a few possibilities.
Frost was asked about Coronato’s work on draws and made it clear why it matters. “It’s huge. You see other teams that do it, and I know as a centre when I would go take draws against, say we’re matched up with a line, and they have guys that are only take them on their strong sides,” he said.
“It’s such an advantage, and I saw it firsthand when I first played in the league with Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier, they were both like 63%.”
For now, Coronato is also doing damage on the scoreboard. He sits second on the Flames in points, just one behind Joel Farabee. Whether there is more to his game at centre is still something the Flames will have to sort out as the season unfolds.
In Other News...
Flames Momentum Vanished Fast Against A Colorado Team They Couldnt Contain
The early momentum Calgary had been carrying into the night disappeared quickly against Colorado, which controlled the game from the start and skated away with a 5-2 win. Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Necas, Artturi Lehkonen and Brock Nelson all helped the Avalanche build a four-goal cushion, while Cale Makar kept feeding the attack with four assists and the Flames spent much of the game trying to chase the pace rather than set it.
Calgary did get goals from Joel Farabee and Martin Pospisil, and Farabee has been one of the brighter signs in a lineup that needed more push offensively. The bigger concern was how little room the Flames found against a Colorado team that simply did not let them settle in, leaving Calgary with another reminder of how quickly a promising stretch can turn when the opposition dictates the terms. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Suddenly Have A Morgan Frost Decision They Didn't Expect
Morgan Frost has given the Flames something they did not necessarily expect to be weighing this early, and it comes at a time when Calgary is trying to sort out its bigger picture. After arriving with questions about how he would fit, Frost has started to look more like a player worth keeping around, which naturally changes the conversation for a front office that is always balancing immediate needs against longer-term value.
The recent uptick has also pushed the discussion beyond simple short-term production and into what the organization wants to do next with him. Calgary had reasons to listen before, but Frosts play has made the decision less straightforward, and the fact that contract talks are already part of the picture only adds to the intrigue as the Flames try to decide whether this is a move they still want to make. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Defensive Breakdowns Let Avalanche Take Over Early
The Flames were chasing from the start in Denver, and the early hole only got deeper as Colorado dictated the pace in a 5-2 loss. Calgary did manage to push back at times, but the Avalanche kept finding ways to answer, turning what might have been a manageable road test into a night where the visitors were forced to play catch-up almost immediately.
Arsenii Sergeev had plenty to deal with in goal as the Avalanche kept pressing and stretching the ice on Calgary. Even with the Flames trying to steady things and make a game of it, Colorado stayed in control long enough to put the result away and leave Calgary looking for a cleaner response after another defensive lapse. [Read more 🡒]