Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
Newly signed contracts in hand for their goaltending duo, the Milwaukee Admirals have a chance to tighten their hold on the Central Division further this weekend.
Two potential Calder Cup Playoff opponents visit Milwaukee, starting with the Chicago Wolves on Saturday. The Rockford IceHogs, still trying to secure a playoff berth, follow on Sunday. Milwaukee holds a two-point lead on the Texas Stars for the Central Division lead with three games to go (Texas has one game in hand).
Ranking fourth in the AHL at 2.61 goals-against per game, a significant portion of that success can be attributed to the stout work that Matt Murray and Magnus Chrona have provided in their first season with the club. The pair each recently signed new contract extensions with the parent Nashville Predators that could put them in line to compete for NHL playing time behind incumbent Juuse Saros next season.
Murray has the AHL lead in wins (26) and save percentage (.932), while his goals-against average is fourth overall at 2.10. His 2,457 minutes played also rank second in the league. Chrona has gone 11-11-5 with a 2.87 GAA and a .901 save percentage this season.
Murray, who represented Milwaukee at the AHL All-Star Classic in February, has a new two-year, two-way contract that goes into effect next season. Chrona’s one-year, two-way extension also kicks in next fall.
Murray and Chrona arrived in Milwaukee last fall to replace what had been another excellent goaltending Admirals tandem in Yaroslav Askarov and Troy Grosenick. With Saros firmly entrenched in the Predators net, Askarov was traded to San Jose in a multi-player deal that brought Chrona to Nashville.
Milwaukee knew Murray well from his time with the Texas Stars, where he spent his first two pro seasons. He faced the Admirals in the 2023 Calder Cup Playoffs, appearing in five contests in a series that the Admirals eventually pulled out. After a pair of one-year deals with the Dallas Stars, Murray made the jump to the other side of the organizational rivalry and signed a one-year contract with Nashville on the first day of free agency last July.
The move has panned out for all parties. In addition to maintaining that strong goaltending tradition in Milwaukee, Murray has gotten NHL recall time with Nashville. His work with the Admirals has been particularly needed given a long line of talent that Nashville brought up from Milwaukee after early-season struggles. As the organization worked to address its NHL personnel needs, it also made several moves to patch up the Milwaukee roster. The team, which had banked points with an 8-1-0-0 start, managed to avoid any extended midseason downturns and came into the stretch drive ready and positioned to compete for a Central Division title.
The tandem has accounted for all but 52 minutes of the team’s goaltending work this season. Murray has been on a tear of late, winning his last six starts while allowing a total of six goals on 194 shots (1.00, .969). Chrona has a chance to compete for a championship following a difficult rookie pro season in San Jose, playing on last-place clubs with both the AHL Barracuda and NHL Sharks. They also have big-game experience in the form of national collegiate championships – Murray with UMass-Amherst in 2021 and Chrona at the University of Denver in 2022.
What lies ahead for the Admirals early in the Calder Cup Playoffs still must be sorted out. But perhaps a third consecutive postseason meeting with Texas might be in the offing. If so, Murray gave his former team something to consider last weekend: Starting both games of a two-game visit to Cedar Park, Murray allowed just one goal in each appearance as the Admirals swept the host Stars.
Goaltending played a major role in taking the Admirals to the Western Conference Finals in each of the past two seasons. If they are to get that far again – and perhaps beyond that – they will be leaning on Murray and Chrona this spring.
On the American Hockey League beat for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2016.
