The Minnesota Wild have signed former Hobey Baker Award finalist Ryan Walters to an AHL contract on Wednesday. Star Tribune beat writer Michael Russo broke the news on Twitter.

#mnwild has signed Ryan Walters to an AHL deal. Iowa's camp starts Friday — Michael Russo (@Russostrib) September 24, 2014

Walters was brought in as an invitee to July’s development camp by the Wild and was extended an invitation to play with the Wild’s prospect team at the Traverse City Prospects Tournament this month. Walters stood out in Traverse City, finishing the tournament tied for the team lead in points and opening the tournament with a two goal showing in the Wild’s first Traverse City win since 2011.

Following Traverse City, Walters was one of just five players who were extended an invite to join the NHL club’s training camp in St. Paul. Walters will be the third of those five to receive a contract after Alex Gudbranson and Hunter Warner were signed to three-year entry-level deals yesterday.

Walters is a Rosemount, MN-native who played for St. Thomas Academy before spending three seasons playing for the Des Moines Buccaneers in the USHL. He then moved on to play the full four years of his NCAA eligibility for the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks, where he was a Hobey Baker Award finalist. In his junior year he scored 22 goals and 30 assists over the course of just 39 games and finished second overall in national scoring. That year Drew LeBlanc of St. Cloud State wound up taking home the Hobey Baker following a late season collapse by the UNO Mavericks that could have hurt Walters’ chances at the award. He tailed off a bit in his senior year, posting just seven goals and 27 assists over 37 games.

But he’s impressed in camp and will be returning to Des Moines on Friday where he will join the Iowa Wild for the start of their training camp. Hockey’s Future notes his obvious offensive potential, but also points out that he can be a bit of a “pest” on the ice. He’s got decent size at six feet tall, 196 pounds and from what little I’ve seen of him, he can certainly get physical in the corners and has a lot of offensive potential.

Details on the contract are scant at the moment, with the team not having yet officially announced the signing. More details will be posted here as they become available.