Breaking: Star goalie says he was nearly traded this summer.

You do not get this kind of open and candid talk from a player very often, and in this case it confirms some of the major rumors that have been floating around this summer.

Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop made a stunning confession to the media this week revealing that he had in fact come very close to being traded at the National Hockey League Entry Draft. How close? Well Bishop says his management was already negotiating a new deal for him with the other side.

"It looked like for a little bit it was going to happen," Bishop told Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times by phone Friday. "At kind of the last minute (the Flames) went out and got Elliott. It was close, but there was never... It wasn't that close, obviously."

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The Flames have always been the team at the heart of the rumors involving both Ben Bishop and Marc-Andre Fleury, and these comments from Bishop make it clear why that was the case. The Flames acquisition of Brian Elliott by no means make this a dead trade as he is only under contract for a single year, furthermore it sounds like Bishop is aware of that a trade could still be coming.

"I have a job in Tampa Bay, it's still my job. That's all I'm focusing on. If something happens, it happens."

"That goes in your head, and then you think you might have a great year and be with Tampa Bay the rest of your life," Bishop said. "You can look at it both ways. You try not to think about it, because then it .. starts to make you upset."

Many pundits believe the writing is on the wall for Bishop in Tampa, and the fact that he was so open with the media today when making his comments suggest he may be very aware of that fact.