HUGE BOOST: Minnesota Wild Signs another crucial top star to huge Contract

**Saint Paul, Minn. –** Minnesota Wild President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Bill Guerin announced today that the team has signed forward Sammy Walker to a one-year, two-way contract valued at $775,000 in the NHL and $125,000 in the AHL for the 2024-25 season.

Walker, 24, played four games with the Minnesota Wild last season. He also participated in 70 games with the Iowa Wild in the American Hockey League (AHL), where he amassed 45 points (14 goals and 31 assists), including three power-play goals, three game-winning goals, and 176 shots on goal. Walker led Iowa in points, assists, and shots, and was third in goals. In his NHL career, he has recorded two points (1 goal and 1 assist) in 13 games with Minnesota. Walker debuted in the NHL against Vancouver on December 10, 2022, and scored his first NHL goal against Winnipeg on December 27, 2022.

The 5-foot-11, 180-pound Edina, Minnesota native has accumulated 93 points (41 goals and 52 assists), 12 power-play goals, eight game-winning goals, and 294 shots in 126 career AHL games over two seasons with Iowa (2022-24). During the 2022-23 season, he ranked second among AHL rookies in game-winning goals (5), third in goals, and tied for sixth in scoring. In his four seasons at the University of Minnesota (2018-22), he tallied 112 points (48 goals and 64 assists) and 81 penalty minutes in 144 games, serving as team captain for his final three seasons. Walker was originally drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the seventh round (200th overall) of the 2017 NHL Draft and signed a two-year, entry-level contract with Minnesota on August 18, 2022.