Chris Terry "One of the Best to Ever Do It"
Apr 10, 2025By Michael Fornabaio (@fornabaioctp)
The scoring company he has joined - the legendary names he has passed just this year - they all highlight the place Chris Terry holds both in Bridgeport Islanders history and the much-longer story of the AHL.
Not that this was something Terry set out to do, but his longevity, skill and knowledge have helped make him invaluable.
"You say leadership, but that word can mean a lot," head coach Rick Kowalsky said. "The way he conducts himself as a pro, and then just watching him in practice, I mean, that's part of it, on and off the ice."
"In practice, the way he shoots the puck, the way he executes two-on-ones. ... Young guys can learn things offensively just from watching him in practice. And obviously, he's continuing to do it and has been huge for us this year under some real tough circumstances."
Following Wednesday's record-setting game, Kowalsky added: "It's amazing what he's been able to accomplish. He's one of the best to ever do it."
Though Bridgeport has struggled for results while dealing with constant injuries, Terry has been his usual self with 65 points in 66 games.
The 65th point was the 204th of his Bridgeport career, passing Jeremy Colliton's franchise record of 203. Terry's 64th point was an assist that gave him 127, one more than Colliton's team career record. Colliton offered Terry a congratulatory video message.
(Yes, Colliton had 77 goals and 126 assists; Terry tied him in points with 76 goals and 127 assists, just missing a fun coincidence.)
"I mean, I'm proud of it. I think it's really cool. I think, you know, it's obviously not something that you start your hockey career ever setting out as a goal to reach," said Terry, who turned 36 this week.
"But as the years have gone by and progressed, and being at the age I am, I'm proud of the longevity of the amount of games I've played, to put myself in a position to have scored and produced points over the years."
This is just Terry's third season in Bridgeport; only this weekend could he eke his way into the top 30 in games played for the 24-year-old franchise.
Over a pro career that dates back to a game for the Albany River Rats 17 years ago Wednesday, though, a career that has included 152 games in the NHL, he has turned in a modern-day AHL Hall of Fame track record.
Terry is 11th in all-time AHL scoring with 806 points; Mitch Lamoreux is 10th at 816. Only one man who played in the AHL in a year starting in '2' is ahead of him, onetime New York Islander Keith Aucoin, in seventh with 857. (Willie Marshall's all-time record of 1,375 is probably safe.)
This year alone, he has passed names like former Bridgeport Sound Tiger Chris Bourque, Darren Haydar and Peter White, legends like Zellio Toppazzini, Larry Wilson and Bruce Boudreau.
Terry holds Laval's single-season records for goals (32) and points (71) from his lone season there, 2017-18. Only Zach Boychuk has more career points than Terry for the Charlotte Checkers in the AHL, when coaches like Jeff Daniels and Geordie Kinnear taught the young Terry how to play a pro game.
He said all those numbers are not something he thinks about in the moment. There might be reflection time in the summer; friends and family might bring it up.
"You don't really set out to break records," he said. "During the season, you're focused on winning games, and obviously where we are, just, playing the right way the last little bit here."
Even if it wasn't his goal, Terry has put himself all over Bridgeport's record book.
In 2021-22, he produced one of only eight 30-goal seasons in team history. He scored 11 goals, to go with five assists, in his last 16 games to help drag Bridgeport from the doldrums into the playoffs, where it won a round for the first time in 19 years.
His 51 assists the next season are the team record, and his 78 points topped Jeff Tambellini's franchise record of 76. That helped Andy Andreoff lead the league with 37 goals and helped Andreoff and Arnaud Durandeau score 13 power-play goals apiece.
This year, Terry has 46 assists. Only Rob Collins' 48 in 2005-06 and Terry's own 51 are ahead of him. He's in a four-way tie for seventh in single-season points with 65; Trent Hunter is the only other Sound Tigers/Islanders player with two of those top-10 seasons.
For players with at least 20 games played for Bridgeport, only four have more points per game than Terry's 1.05. Honestly, take away the qualifier, and there are only three more ahead of him.
"I think from a power play standpoint, he sees things at a very high level and certainly has helped guys in that area going back to my first year," Kowalsky said. "Andreoff was a pretty good player, but he was a net-front player. He ended up with 37 goals playing all year with Terry on his left wing. Had career highs, led the league in goals playing with 25 (Terry's number).
"Surprise, surprise, Brian Pinho is having the best year of his career" playing with Terry this year, Kowalsky said, adding with a laugh, "you know, I mean, there's a bit of a pattern here."
Kowalsky said Terry's competitiveness sets him apart as a leader, as well as the way he carries himself.
From the outside looking in, that kind of veteran can be underrated in a development league like the AHL, whether they're the team's leading scorer or not.
"It's a tough category, because you know guys, as they get older, this league's a grind, and the league is getting younger. It is getting faster," Kowalsky said. "There's options in Europe, things like that. But he's wanted to stay in the American League. Unfortunately, we weren't able to bring him back last year. But he likes playing here.
"Those guys are tough to find, and it's a balance of how much game do they have left, and then obviously the importance of what they can bring to help those young guys develop and win."
Though he spent last year with the Chicago Wolves, Terry says this area has become home. Like a lot of Bridgeport players, he lives near the beach in Milford, with his wife Chelsey, soon-to-be-4 son Brooks (pictured), and dog.
"I really like Killer (Kowalsky). I think he's a tremendous coach," Terry said. "My two previous seasons, he was the assistant, but he ran the power play. I always felt like we saw the game the same way in terms of offense and power play, and kind of his talk about values, his core values and his, kind of, regulations on the power play.
"I truly believe in what he's teaching, and I obviously have a really good relationship with (Bridgeport general manager) Chris Lamoriello and been fortunate to (come) back this year. I think we're treated extremely well here."
Terry became just the 13th player to hold Bridgeport's team record, technically, dating back to David Morisset scoring the franchise's first goal on Oct. 5, 2001; Nick Smith assisting on that goal and the second; and Hunter scoring his second goal into an empty net that same night.
Since Hunter took the inaugural-season scoring lead for good on Feb. 22, 2002, though, only three others have held the mark: Jeff Hamilton briefly, Collins, and Colliton. It had belonged to Colliton, now an assistant coach for the New Jersey Devils, for just over 14 years.
Terry said he doesn't know Colliton but obviously knows of him, including playing against him as Colliton's playing career wound down and Terry's got started.
"I've been in this organization three years now, and it's pretty much home for the last little bit of my career, that I've spent the most time with," Terry said, "So, yeah, it's awesome. It's really cool to be a part of, obviously, the franchise when you talk about it as a whole."