Since he signed with the Montreal Canadiens organization last year, all Chris Terry has done is set records and score goals in the AHL. In the final season of the St. John’s IceCaps franchise, Terry set both the city’s goal-scoring and points record with 30 goals and 68 points.
This year in Laval, Terry repeated that same level of performance, with 32 goals and 39 assists in 62 games played for the Rocket. Not only did he lead his team in scoring by a decent margin, he also led the entire AHL, beating out Lehigh Valley’s Phil Varone by a single point on the last day of the Rocket’s season with a late assist in a 6-4 loss to Toronto.
Chris Terry earns an assist on a powerplay goal by Adam Cracknell to take the AHL scoring lead. 6-4 for the Marlies. #Rocket pic.twitter.com/nEN0R7x0xs
— Andrew Zadarnowski (@AZadarski) April 14, 2018
Varone played a dozen more games, as Terry missed some time due to injuries. Austin Czarnik of the Providence Bruins, who finished two back with 69 points, played two more games than the rocket veteran.
For his efforts, Terry will be the recipient of the John B. Sollenberger Trophy, given to the AHL’s leading point producer every year. He’ll be the first Montreal player to receive the award since Stéphan Lebeau captured the award in the 1988-89 season, scoring an incredible 70 goals, and adding 64 assists.
Terry is an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season, and after two incredible years in the AHL, it would be wise for the Canadiens to do what they can to keep him in the fold for the foreseeable future as the team tries to bounce back in 2018-19.
