Chris Terry, who scored more goals, assists and points than any other Charlotte skater in the last five seasons, is one game in to what the Carolina Hurricanes are planning to be a five-game stint in his old stomping grounds. Providing enough players on the NHL club stay healthy for that long, the 25-year-old is expected to return there following Charlotte’s Dec. 6 game against the Iowa Wild.
The former AHL All-Star who scored a career-best 69 points with the Checkers last season should instantly become one of the most-used players on the team, which is precisely the point.
“I’m just on the outside looking in right now (in Carolina) so they thought it would be a good idea to come down here and play a lot,” said Terry. “I was scratched for three of the last eight and I wasn’t going to play in Florida (last Wednesday), so they wanted me to get some minutes down here. That was really about it.”
That comes despite numerous offensive chances – ones that the usual lineup simply hasn’t been able to convert with regularity.
“It’s the same story,” said Daniels, referring to a 2-4-1 stretch in which he’s been otherwise encouraged with the team’s play. “It’s good that we’re getting the chances and that we’re in the game, but we’re desperate and we’ve got to win games. At some point we’ve got to get guys putting the puck in the back of the net. There’s too many grade-A chances that are being wasted right now.
“In our last two games we ran into two goalies that had struggled a little bit prior but came out and played real well. Without a doubt that’s part of it, but at the same time when we get chances it’s up to us to bear down, not relax, and get them in the net.”
That’s where Terry, who has seven points in 17 NHL games this season and still ranks tied for fifth on the Hurricanes with four goals, comes in. That said, it won’t necessarily be points that get him back to being a regular in Carolina’s lineup.
“Just get back to what I was doing early on in the season when I was successful up there,” said Terry of what the Hurricanes expect from him during his AHL stint. “Continue to play my game and don’t change my game down here. I’ll just try to keep that work ethic up and keep trying to make plays.”
“Chris has a good understanding of the way they want him to play up top now,” said Daniels of Terry, who the Hurricanes drafted with a fifth-round selection in 2007. “It’s not about the points – it’s being that two-way guy that can bring something when he’s not scoring, be strong alone the boards, get pucks out and be responsible. That’s got to be his focus while he’s down here.”
Aside from that, one early hurdle for Terry has been making introductions. A player perhaps more synonymous with the Checkers than any other – if all goes according to plan, he’ll miss being the first to hit 300 games with the club by just one when his conditioning stint comes to a close – he’s suddenly in unfamiliar territory. With Michal Jordan going up to the NHL on the same day he came down and Jared Staal injured, Terry should be the only original Checker in Saturday’s lineup.
“More than half the team,” said Terry when asked which players he met for the first time in recent days. “When I got to Norfolk, (Daniels) asked me if I knew anybody.”
Among the few players he does know are Greg Nemisz and LaRose, the Checkers’ top two scorers and his linemates on Wednesday. It’s a unit that Daniels hope can be a productive one, provided LaRose is able to return from a bout of the flu that kept him and defenseman Ryan Murphy off the ice during Friday’s practice.
Regardless of who he plays with, a win-win outcome for all parties would be for Terry to do what he does best in Charlotte and carry that momentum back to a Carolina team that continues to experience its own offensive issues.
“He’s here now for a week to play, play a lot and play the right way – the way they want him to play up top,” said Daniels.
