It's probably not because he scored his first NHL goal on Thursday night, but Stephen Johns got quite a thank you present from the Dallas Stars on Friday morning as they signed the rookie defenseman to a two-year contract extension.

Terms of the contract have not yet been released (we will update this story when they are), but Mike Heika reported earlier today that the contract was expected to be one-way, which means Johns would have the same cap hit and salary in the NHL as in the AHL. It's usually a strong indicator of what players are expected to be on an NHL roster at the beginning of the season.

ETA: Here are the terms:

That is a $725,000 cap hit, which is more than reasonable.

He was set to become a restricted free agent this summer.

Johns, 23, was acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks along with Patrick Sharp last summer in exchange for Trevor Daley and Ryan Garbutt. He made his NHL debut during the recent spate of defensive injuries, playing second-pairing minutes alongside Johnny Oduya against some of the best teams in the NHL.

At 6-foot-4, 225 pounds, he's also been a large part of the Texas Stars success in the AHL this season. This news, though, means he's almost certainly graduated to the big club for good.

The full release from the team is below: