Quoting: Ledge_And_Dairy
Is this based on Johnson's play last year? Coronato would have been on the Flames roster last year too had he been signed yet. His preseason and early season performance show that he has just as much potential as KJ. Both players were then caught in the coaches shuffles and lost confidence. I give KJ the edge because of more experience but I think you underappreciate Coronato a bit here. He was one of the few players that showed up every game he's played this year except the last where the coach put him at 4C for some reason
I'm basing it on a lot of things. Starting with scoring 40 points in his D+2 season yes. Would Coronato have been on the Flames roster last year if he signed? IDK, maybe he makes the team maybe he doesn't. But you know he's not sticking with the team right now so I guess we have that as a piece of evidence. I thought he looked really good in the preseason and I think he's a very promising young prospect.
You might say well Kent Johnson is also on the AHL team right now. Sure, but he also played all season last year and put up .5 points a game. These are not comparable situations. You have one player who got a tryout on the team but didn't make and another did it for a whole season and is now slumping. Like you're seriously out here comparing a player that had a good first NHL preseason and Johnson.
But maybe you say I'm relying on stats too much although if you look at the cohort of players who did what Johnson did you will see it's some pretty dam good company. You can watch them play Johnson has looked better and please don't refer to preseason games at this point. You've got a 10 regular season game sample, this is what we're ranking him on.
You could also look at any ranking of prospects (which would even allow Johnson on it since most will treat him as having graduated as a prospect) and you will see him ranked miles ahead of Coronato which I guess you could dismiss. But then we're trying to value these players and so even if you do think the lists accurately represent how good Coronato is compared to Johnson, it would likely represent how the league would value them relative to each other. Also things that would make him worth way more, leaving aside who is actually better/has more potential. He was draft 5th overall and in theory, he is a center. If I'm trading for Johnson I'm doing everything I can to develop him into a center.
I have to be honest, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills that we're even having this discussion. Could Coronato end up being better then Johnson in the future, sure prospects are a crap shoot, and they are both good players. Is Coronato worth even remotely close to the same as Johnson, no.
I wish I could find you an example of just what Johnson is worth, the problem is I can't think of any comps. But food for thought look at what these players moved for (all of which he'd be worth more than and all of which might be ok comps for Coronato)
Newhook - 1st (31st) 2nd (37th) and sweetener
Dach - 1st (13th), 3rd (66th)
Reinhart - 1st (16th) 2nd (33rd) [this one should give you a sense of how high Johnson's value would be]