Rumor: Ben Bishop's career may be over.

This would be a sad way to end what has been a great career, but there are many signs that appear to indicate veteran goaltender Ben Bishop has reached the end of a long road.

Bishop made his long awaited return to action this week after an extended layoff caused by a torn meniscus in his knee. He spent 15 months on the sidelines as a result of that injury, the surgery to repair the damage, and his recovery period, but finally he was ready to step back out onto the ice.

Unfortunately for Bishop and the Stars the first game of his conditioning stint at the American Hockey League level was a catastrophe, with the veteran netminder allowing a whopping 8 goals on just 34 shots. That was bad enough for an 8.20 goals against average and a .765 save percentage, a sign that Bishop may have lost his way during the extended layoff.

That conditioning stint was scheduled to be for 3 games but now it seems as though there has been a drastic change in plans on the part of the Dallas Stars. On Saturday the Dallas Stars announced that they had recalled Bishop from his conditioning stint after just that one catastrophic game, a strange move to be sure but one that was quickly followed up by more news. According to Dallas Stars insider Saad Yousuf, Bishop is now schedule to speak to the media on Tuesday and I strongly suspect that it won't be to discuss his return to the Stars main lineup. In fact, while this is only speculation on my part, I strongly suspect that Bishop is likely to announce his retirement on Tuesday.

In spite of his poor performance in his return Bishop did tell reporters following the game that it felt good to be back out on the ice. He also did admit that he had some soreness in his surgically repaired knee during the game's third period, and I wonder if those two factors may not have led to whatever it is we can expect from Bishop on Tuesday.

It would be an incredibly anticlimactic way for a very good goaltender to end his career, but sadly I do think we may have seen the last of Bishop in the NHL already. If that is indeed the case his 413 game career will end with a 2.32 goals against average and a .921 save percentage, numbers that Bishop can and should be proud of.