Goaltender prospect Yaroslav Askarov asked for a trade, and the Predators quickly found a new home for him.
Nashville shipped off Askarov — who was the Predators’ first-round pick in 2020 — a 2025 third-round pick, and Nolan Burke to San Jose for forward prospect David Edstrom, a conditional first-round pick in 2025, and goaltender Magnus Chrona. Here’s what you need to know about Nashville’s return:
David Edstrom
Edstrom was selected by the Vegas Golden Knights with the final pick of the first round of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft. He was then flipped to San Jose at last season’s trade deadline as part of the Tomas Hertl blockbuster. More on that later.
Edstrom scored 19 points in 44 games for Frolunda in the SHL and then posted another six points in 14 playoff games. He also won a silver medal at last year’s World Junior Championships and will likely earn another invite to that tournament this season.
He brings the size (6-foot-3, 190 pounds) that NHL GMs love, especially at the center position. But the knock on Edstrom has been his ceiling. If he makes it as an NHLer, it’s likely he’s going to be a depth center.
Also, the Sharks have spent two top-five picks in the last two drafts on centers Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith. Between them and 2022 first-round pick Filip Bystedt, the Sharks were dealing from a position of strength. Edstrom getting dealt twice before he can even start his second season after getting drafted might also not reflect well on what other NHL teams think of his future.
Magnus Chrona
Chrona is likely just a throw-in for the Predators’ goaltending depth on the farm. He didn’t exactly have the best circumstances last season, spending time with both the Sharks’ struggling AHL squad and their actual struggling NHL team.
In his first full professional season after playing at the University of Denver for four seasons, Chrona played in 34 games with the San Jose Barracuda, where he had a sub-.900 save percentage. The Barracuda had two goaltenders play at least 18 games and finish with better save percentages, for what that’s worth.
Chrona also got fed to the wolves in nine NHL games last season. The Sharks did him no favors in front of him, but Chrona was lit up when he played, registering an .859 save percentage. He had a Goals Saved Above Expected of -8.94, according to Evolving-Hockey, meaning he allowed about a goal above expected in each game he played.
Chrona turns 24 in a matter of days, so there’s still time to turn things around. But he’s likely not a major part of Nashville’s future.
The Mystery Box: Conditional 2025 first-round pick
The condition on this one is where this trade goes a little off the rails. The Sharks are sending the 2025 first-round pick they received from Vegas in the aforementioned Hertl trade. However, this pick is top-10 protected. If the Vegas pick winds up in the top 10, the Sharks will have the option to send Nashville either the Vegas pick or their own selection.
This is arguably the make-or-break part of the trade for Nashville. Most likely, Vegas won’t end up in the top 10, and the Predators wind up with another top-20 pick or so. Or, with the Predators going all-in this season with the additions of Jonathan Marchessault and Steven Stamkos, they have another bargaining chip at the trade deadline.
But Vegas could also take a step back this season. The Golden Knights lost a lot of pieces this offseason between Marchessault, Chandler Stephenson, Anthony Mantha, Logan Thompson and more. They made the playoffs as the second wild card last season and could collapse completely. It probably won’t happen, but you never know.
The Sharks’ own first-round pick is almost certainly out of the question after finishing last season as one of the worst in the salary cap era. They did add some goal-scoring punch in Tyler Toffoli and bolstered their roster with actual NHL talent, like Alex Wennberg, Jake Walman and Ty Dellandrea.
But they’re also a wild card themselves. There’s a very real possibility that they could ice two teenagers as their top two centers on opening night. The combination of Calder Trophy-caliber seasons from Smith and Celebrini and their offseason moves could propel them out of the basement and maybe make the calculus a little more complicated on what to do with these picks.
The Sharks have one of the best farm systems in the NHL, but what their prospect pool desperately needed was a legitimate No. 1 goaltender. They’re hoping they’re getting that from Askarov, who’s excelled in Milwaukee but has only played in three NHL games. Predators fans might not see him when the Sharks return to Bridgestone Arena in January, since San Jose has Mackenzie Blackwood and Vitek Vanecek already on the roster, but it should be interesting to see how the Sharks bring him into the fold.
In return, the Predators didn’t get any of the Sharks’ top prospects, though the conditional first-round pick could make this trade a lot more interesting. San Jose fans already didn’t need a reason to root against Vegas, but now they’ve spread the hate to Tennessee. Still, with the interest in Askarov (who wouldn’t want a top goalie prospect in search of a new environment?), it’s understandable to wish that the Predators could have gotten more in return.