The Calgary Flames made a big commitment in net to Dustin Wolf on Tuesday. Calgary [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/calgary-flames] re-signed Wolf to a seven-year contract extension with an average annual value of $7.5 million, the team announced. He's currently entering the final season of a two-year contract worth $850,000 annually and would have been an RFA with arbitration rights. Wolf, 24, finished second in Calder Trophy voting last season and was on the NHL's all-rookie team. After having only 18 games of NHL experience heading into the 2024-25 campaign, the rookie goaltender stayed in The Show for good and even leapfrogged Dan Vladar into the Flames' No. 1 role. Dustin Wolf (Sergei Belski-Imagn Images) [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/48721a20-bbd1-4996-b090-d6d2f85491a7.jpeg] Dustin Wolf (Sergei Belski-Imagn Images) In 53 games last season, Wolf recorded a 29-16-8 record, a 2.64 goals-against average, .910 save percentage and three shutouts. Vladar, meanwhile, had a 12-11-6 record with a 2.80 GAA, .898 SP and two shutouts. The veteran signed with the Philadelphia Flyers [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/philadelphia-flyers] this off-season, while the Flames signed Ivan Prosvetov to compete with Devin Cooley for their new backup job. Wolf's efforts were part of Calgary's push for the playoffs last year. He split the net in the team's four-game win streak to open the season, and he had more wins than losses per month from October to January, then in April. He also finished the season with 11.9 goals saved above expected, according to moneypuck.com [https://moneypuck.com/goalies.htm]. In January specifically, Wolf went 7-3-0 with a 2.32 GAA and .922 SP to earn rookie of the month honors. [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/calgary-flames/flames-goalie-named-nhl-rookie-of-the-month] Although Wolf finished second to Lane Hutson in the rookie of the year voting, the six-foot netminder from Gilroy, Calif., has earned accolades at previous levels. Between 2021-22 and 2022-23, Wolf won the Baz Bastien Memorial Award as the AHL's goaltender of the year twice, the Harry Holmes Memorial Award for the best goaltending duo and the Les Cunningham Award as the AHL [https://thehockeynews.com/ahl]'s most valuable player. Before his AHL career began, Wolf won the Del Wilson Trophy as the WHL [https://thehockeynews.com/whl]'s top goaltender in back-to-back years. In 2019-20, he was the CHL's goaltender of the year as well. In 2018-19, he had the WHL's best GAA at 1.69, and he was the WHL and CHL's scholastic player of the year. Wolf's new contract kicks in for the 2026-27 season and runs through 2032-33, eating up five years of UFA eligibility. He will be 32 when the contract is scheduled to expire. Wolf was Calgary's last pending RFA at the NHL level. The Flames still have at least seven pending UFAs, including captain Mikael Backlund, Rasmus Andersson and Ryan Lomberg. Last weekend, the Flames announced they re-signed their last RFA of this off-season, 23-year-old Connor Zary [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/calgary-flames/latest-news/flames-sign-connor-zary-to-three-year-contract], to a three-year contract with a $3.775-million cap hit. For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free [https://thehockeynews.store/products/print-subscription]. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here [http://eepurl.com/i7OC4I]. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com.
