Ducks forward Troy Terry’s breakout season comes after early crisis in confidence

Scott Burnside
Scott Burnside
Ducks forward Troy Terry’s breakout season comes after early crisis in confidence

Dallas Eakins recalls his first conversation with Troy Terry vividly.

Eakins was coaching the Anaheim Ducks’ American Hockey League affiliate in San Diego. It was a morning skate after Terry had been sent down by the big club.

They were on the ice in front of the visitors’ bench.

“He simply said to me, ‘I’ve lost all my confidence,’” Eakins recalled. “And I said, ‘Alright.’ And then I just walked him through it.”

Eakins told Terry that it didn’t matter to him how many mistakes the winger made in that night’s game –it wasn’t going to cost him.

“I said, ‘I’m not going to sit you on the bench if you make an honest mistake or God forbid the other team does its job,” Eakins said. “I still remember that conversation.”

That was during the 2018-19 season.

In the evolution of a young hockey player, that seems like a long time ago, even though both player and coach recall the details distinctly and more importantly understand that in some ways it was a turning point.

“When I came out of college, I wanted nothing more than to make the NHL and be an impact player in the NHL,” Terry said this week. “I never wanted to get sent down. I wanted to start my career and for it be all smooth. And it didn’t exactly happen for me.”

It wouldn’t be the only time the coach and the player would discuss the importance of confidence and the path to that kind of mindset. But that first conversation remains a touchstone for both as they have traveled parallel tracks back to Ducks.

“I’m one of those players that a conversation like that for me goes so far,” Terry said. “I’ve always admired that about Dallas. He understands the player that I am and what makes me tick and what makes me at my best.”

Let’s be honest. There is more than a little man falling to earth from some other dimension to Troy Terry’s season.

He leads the surprising Ducks in goals (13), points (23) and power-play points (7), and is on a 50-goal pace – not bad for a kid that was often chided by coaches for not shooting enough.

League-wide he is top 10 in both goals and points. He also had a 16-game point streak.

The Ducks, considered a playoff bubble team at best at the start of the season, are in third place in the surprisingly-competitive Pacific Division and their .595 points percentage is ninth in the Western Conference.

Now, we’re not going to go Hollywood and suggest all of this can be traced directly to that first conversation between a coach hoping for his own second chance at an NHL gig and a player struggling to rediscover the joy in the game. But you can if you want.

“To see Troy now, I can still remember his face, I can remember the tone of his voice,” Eakins said of that first conversation.

“It’s amazing. He’s a totally different person,” Eakins said. “Back then he was a kid and now he’s just maturing into a man.”

Terry grew up in a football house, his father Chuck having played at Arizona State University. He was named after quarterback Troy Aikman. But starting with roller hockey and then youth hockey there was a short, straight line as far as Terry was concerned when it came to hockey.

“I was instantly drawn to it,” he said. “It didn’t take very long once the whole hockey thing started. I just love the sport.”

As he grew older and began playing AAA hockey Terry was coached by Hall of Fame player and current Colorado Avalanche GM Joe Sakic – hence Terry’s affection for #19 – and another Avs legend Adam Foote whose son, Cal, was a teammate.

Another teammate was Alex Overhardt, the son of long-time agent Kurt Overhardt.

Overhardt and Terry’s father, Chuck, would watch their sons’ practices and games together. It became a a natural evolution that when it came time to choose an advisor and then an agent, it would be Overhardt.

“Everyone’s in too big of a rush, ”Overhardt said. “The Terrys aren’t in a rush. Susan and Chuck Terry are awesome human beings and Troy’s a byproduct of his parents.”

Terry’s last contract was a three-year bridge deal with a $1.45 million cap hit that expires after next season. He’ll still be a restricted free agent, but will be in a position to set up his future in a meaningful way.

“We knew that sometime within the three years his game would pop. This is what we’re seeing now,” Overhardt said. “You can’t push a rope. Troy’s best hockey is in front of him for the next 10 years. It’s going to be really fun to watch.”

It’s funny. You listen to how Eakins approaches the game and his players and you think, hey, I could use that too in my life and maybe that’s the point.

“I really think he’s bought into what I believe and I’m a big believer that you choose to have confidence or you choose not to have it,” Eakins said.

For instance, Eakins is fond of running through a scenario like this.

Six games ago you’re having success. Then it stops. Are you suddenly out of shape? No. Did you change your equipment? No. Do you suddenly skate slower? No. Did your shot lose its velocity? No.

“The only thing that’s changed is their head,” Eakins said.

And here is the growth part.

“If you’re going to beat yourself up over a mistake or something that’s gone wrong then you are not ready for the opportunities we have in every moment,” Eakins said.

If you’re stuck in last night’s game and any misfortunes there then you can’t take advantage of the opportunity of tonight’s game.

“Troy’s really gotten to a spot that he can park a mistake. He can park the other team doing a good job. He can park having an off night or an off shift,” Eakins said.

David Carle, the current head coach at the University of Denver, was a student assistant with the Pioneers and led skills sessions for Terry and Alex Overhardt and their pals when the boys were 12 or 13 years old.

Later, when Terry returned as a player for the University of Denver, Carle was part of Jim Montgomery’s staff before taking over as head coach.

“He has a good perspective,” Carle said. “He doesn’t get too high or too low. He’s very humble and kind of unassuming. He’d be the same person in the middle of a 16 or 17-game heater as he would be if he hadn’t gotten a point in five games.”

“Troy’s always been a little bit later in his development physically,” Carle added. “I think he’s hitting peak maturity and he’s becoming a man and it’s a man’s league.”

Terry came to national prominence during the 2017 World Junior Championships when he scored three times in a shootout win over Russia in the semifinal game, before scoring the game-winner in the gold medal game against Canada.

With the NHL declining to attend the 2018 Olympics in South Korea, Terry was one of three collegiate players – Ryan Donato and Jordan Greenway were the others – who were asked to join the U.S. team in PyeongChang.

“That was truly my first experience of playing hockey with older men,” Terry said of the Olympics.

Among Terry’s teammates in South Korea was veteran NHLer Brian Gionta.

Gionta was nearing the end of a stellar NHL career at the time but in spite of the wide difference in their ages – Terry is 24 and Gionta is 42 – they developed a strong bond.

“I just wanted to be a sponge,” Terry said. “I was just amazed with how personable he was. He’s seriously just one of those guys that you just to be around.”

Now, almost four years later, the two remain on regular contact although Gionta said he didn’t bother Terry during his recent point streak.

“Any question, any time,” Terry said. “Whether it’s hockey or if it’s just in my life.”

As much as Terry learned from Gionta for the veteran to hear his young teammates talk about life in their university dorms, girlfriends and the like was a window onto a different world.

“For me it was awesome. I loved every second of it,” Gionta said. “I love him. He’s a fun loving, I wouldn’t say goofy, but just easy going, fun loving kid. Extremely talented.”

Gionta thinks of the different landscape that greets young players like Terry than when he broke into the league in New Jersey two decades ago.

“People expect guys to step in right away, and there’s very few that can do that,” Gionta said. “Everyone goes through some different things. It’s about trying to be as balanced all the way around, on the ice, off the ice, and giving yourself the best chance to succeed.”

“I would have been scared (shitless) to be texting a guy who’s been in the league for 18 years,” Gionta said with a laugh. “I think back and I was barely talking to my teammates, but I’m glad he’s felt comfortable continuing like that.”

We are chatting with Terry the day after his epic 16-game point streak came to an end.

He’s preparing for a game in his hometown of Denver and still there is an ease about the conversation, a willingness to go beyond the cliches and the pat answers to drill down on how he’s got to this point in his career.

For a long time, Terry said, he was so consumed with the game and his role in it that it left little room for other things.

“I felt like as a person I felt I was defined by hockey,” said Terry who describes himself as “an over-thinker and over-analyzer.”

By broadening the lens in recent years, he has found a better balance.

“In all honesty the biggest change for me has been my approach to hockey in general,” Terry said.

He recently got engaged to a girl he’s known since high school and they plan to marry next July. He has two dogs. He’s tried to put more emphasis on his family and those relationships. And the hockey, well, he has certain gifts he’s been able to employ more successfully without it consuming him.

“It’s not who I am as a person,” Terry said of the game.

It’s why he doesn’t necessarily lament the end of the streak whereas in the past he might have brooded over it. In fact, he admitted there is a kind of relief on one level because it’s not dominating the discussion.

“Now, I’m just excited to kind of show that this is the way I want to be all the time,” Terry said.

It’s easy to talk in the theoretical about building something in an organization. Culture. Identity. Respect. And how those things might be handed down from iteration to iteration over the years.

Those things have been brought into sharp focus in Anaheim with the recent firing of GM Bob Murray after complaints about inappropriate behavior over the years, after which Murray announced he has entered an alcohol treatment program.

On the macro level Terry is an example of how a young man evolves in part because of the positive influence of a player like captain Ryan Getzlaf.

“He sits right in that dressing room very, very close to Ryan Getzlaf,” Eakins said. “He’s on the bench next to him. He goes out on the ice with him every time.”

“You talk about values, and Troy is learning off one of the best in the game,” Eakins said. “I think that has been a major, major factor in Terry’s emergence this season.”

“It’s no secret how I talk about him and what he means to me as a person,” Terry said. Never mind his own point streak one of the highlights of Terry’s career thus far has been his involvement in Ryan Getzlaf’s 1,000th point.

“He’s kind of been someone that right away when I came into this league, I felt he went above and beyond to take me under his wing,” Terry said. “I didn’t expect us to be so close off the ice and have such a great relationship away from hockey. He’s become one of my closest friends.”

The coach believes this is the lifeblood of any organization, pro sports team or business entity.

“When you can encourage and inspire and promote high character, selfless human beings,” Eakins said. “Then all of the wins and playoffs and championships, they kind of look after themselves.”

Already the influence is filtering on through the lineup in Anaheim from Getzlaf to Terry to some of the even younger players who might find themselves in the place Terry did a couple of years ago.

“He becomes a reference point for other guys,” Eakins said. “Listen, you see Troy Terry, what he’s doing? This is what it took for him to get there.”

Just about time to wrap this up. But we’ve been wondering, does it bug Terry that some people react as though he’s simply fell into the NHL this season and is taking the world by storm?

No. Not really.

“It doesn’t bug me by any means,” Terry said. “But there is a part of me that I feel that I’ve always kind of had this potential in me and shown it at time but just haven’t been consistent.”

“I feel like I had some hype coming into the league,” he added. “I don’t know if they forgot about me but kind of questioned that I was the player they thought I was. And there were times I questioned whether I could be the kind of player I always thought I was.”

Now, it seems, the time for those kinds of questions are at an end.

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