Troy Terry Deal a Win for Both Sides

The Ducks announced today that Troy Terry has been signed to a three year contract extension. Per Capfriendly, the breakdown of the contract is as follows:

2020-2021: $1.35 M

2021-2022: $1.45 M

2022-2023: $1.55 M

This results in an AAV of $1.45 M for the next three years for Terry. The deal has been reported as being a one way deal.

Troy Terry was a pending 10.2(c) RFA, which means that he was not eligible for arbitration or offer sheets and could only negotiate his next contract with the Ducks. The Ducks held all the leverage in this negotiation.

With that being the case, this is a fair deal for both Terry and the Ducks. Even though Terry has shown signs that he could become a middle six point producer at the NHL level, the production is not there yet to warrant any sort of big money deal. One could argue the Ducks might have overpaid in actual compensation based upon Terry’s production, but in my personal opinion the increase in pay is most likely tied to Terry being signed for three years instead of two.

From the perspective of the Ducks, if Terry has a breakout year over the next season or two, they would be able to have that production at a very cheap cap hit. If he does not break out, then they did not break the bank to pay Terry an amount that is slightly more than he is worth right now. It is a win win from the Ducks perspective, which is typically the case in these types of negotiations where the player has little to no leverage.

From the perspective of Troy Terry, the key part is this contract being a one way deal. Terry’s prior contract was a two way deal, which is the case for all ELC’s. Two way deals result in a player being paid a certain rate for each game played in the NHL, and then a much reduced rate for each game in the AHL. Terry was sent down near the end of last season for various reasons, and regardless of the validity of these reasons, Terry was getting paid significantly less as a result even though he had proven he deserved to be in the NHL at that point. Now if the Ducks were to send him down, ignoring the fact that he would require waivers, he would still be paid his new wage.

Terry and his agent were probably pushing for a shorter term deal, so that if he becomes that middle six point producer he showed in flashes, he would receive that pay bump sooner, but one would imagine the Ducks would not have offered as much per year or offered a one way deal as a part of that shorter term deal.

The Ducks got one of the primary kids locked up at a very effective and cap friendly rate for the next three years, while Terry is able to have some certainty to how much he will be paid for the next three years. Overall the deal makes a ton of sense for both parties.