As their minor league team prepares to begin their post-season, the Calgary Flames have locked up one of their top players for the next few seasons. The club announced a two-way contract extension for winger Walker Duehr with an $825,000 cap hit. Per Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg, who was first to report a pending deal, it’s a one-way deal.

The 25-year-old Duehr is the first-ever NHL player from the great state of South Dakota. He was signed by the Flames as a college free agent back in 2021, and he’s found a really nice niche as a right shot energy forward. He broke through onto the NHL level this season, playing 27 NHL games (11 points) with the Flames and 41 AHL games (26 points) with the Wranglers.

Duehr was set to become a restricted free agent on July 1, and his qualifying offer would’ve been a one-year, two-way offer worth $787,500 at the NHL level. Going from that starting point to a multi-year, one-way deal is some fairly tidy work by both the Flames and Duehr’s representatives at O2K Worldwide Management Group.

Duehr becomes waiver eligible next season, and a multi-year deal at $50,000 north of the NHL’s league minimum is an excellent reward for his work so far. It seems to serve as both a congratulations for a job well done, and a bit of a “show me” deal for him moving forward.