The return for the trade of Yaroslav Askarov is getting mixed review among Nashville Predators fans, but at least GM Barry Trotz did manage to get a goalie prospect back with Magnus Chrona.
Chrona is a fifth-round draft pick originally drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2018. He has nine NHL games under his belt, all coming this past season while suited up for the San Jose Sharks.
Now while Chrona's early NHL experience can be fairly illustrated as difficult growing pains, the prospect does have upside and should be a strong addition to the Milwaukee Admirals goalie room. He's a big downgrade from Askarov, no doubt, but he has promise to develop into a much better goalie than what his first nine NHL games rendered.
You have to take into account that Chrona was playing for a Sharks team that was historically bad, finishing with only 19 wins and 47 points in the standings. So it's not like Chrona had even an average team playing in front of him, so let's not be too critical of his 4.71 GAA and .859 save percentage.
Chrona did earn his only win to date of his NHL career by defeating the Ottawa Senators on March 9, 2024 to the tune of 31 saves on 32 shots faced. So there's something to build off there at least.
Magnus Chrona won a national championship at Denver and was at DU, like Askarov in Milwaukee , a tandem with Devin Cooley.
— Aaron Sims (@aaronadmirals) August 23, 2024
If he’s anywhere near as nice as the other Magnus in the .@mkeadmirals history (Magnus Hellberg), this will be awesome.
PS Best wishes to Yaro.
Chrona enjoyed NCAA success, now looks to develop his game at the pro ranks
Chrona's journey to being drafted into the NHL first began in the Swedish junior leagues, before attending the University of Denver in the NCAA ranks where his team won a national championship. In four seasons in the NCAA, Chrona posted save percentages above 90 percent every year.
The Sharks acquired Chrona from the Lightning on April 12, 2021 while Chrona was still playing collegiately. Chrona would get 31 games of AHL experience in the Sharks system while also struggling to replicate his strong numbers from the collegiate ranks. To be expected for a developing goalie.
Chrona has a big body and physical frame, and now just needs to contineu to finetune ihs technical skills. Think the opposite of Juuse Saros, who is undersized but a technical wizard with his footwork and reading the puck.
The Milwaukee Admirals will look very different among their goalies from last season. In 2023-24, the Admirals had the duo of Yaroslav Askarov and Troy Grosenick. This upcoming season, the crease will likely be shared by Chrona and Matthew Murray.
Murray just signed as a free agent by the Predators this past offseason, coming from the Dallas Stars organization. He is undrafted and appeared in four games for the Stars.
So Chrona will battle with Murray for starts in Milwaukee, and I'd expect an even split until one shows better output over the other for Milwaukee Head Coach Karl Taylor to stick with.
Murray has considerably more AHL experience, and better numbers to back it up. So I'd consider Chrona the challenger and needing to prove himself to get the lion's share of the starts over Murray. Should be an intriguing competition for the Admirals.
Even though it's not nearly the same caliber of talent level as Askarov, it was wise for Trotz to get a goalie prospect in return to fill the void that Askarov is leaving behind in Milwaukee.
Way down the road it's possible that Chrona could develop nicely into an eventual NHL backup. With him only being 23-years-old, it's too early to say, but Chrona is heading to an organization that has a knack for developing goalies so let's see how his game grows in what will be his second AHL season.