Braden Holtby's career may be over.

The number of available goaltenders expected to be available this offseason continues to shrink rapidly, and for teams still currently seeking their answer in net the pool of potential candidates just shrunk by one more.

On the most recent episode of the DFO podcast, National Hockey League insider Frank Seravalli has revealed that veteran goaltender Braden Holtby is not expected to play in the NHL next season, and in fact may never play in the NHL again.

"By the way Braden Holtby, unlikely to play next season, his career may be over," revealed Seravalli on the podcast.

Holtby was set to be among the free agent goaltenders available on July 13th after the 1 year ($2 million average annual value) deal he signed with the Dallas Stars last summer was set to come to an end. The Dallas Stars will be looking to sign restricted free agent goaltender Jake Oettinger to a new contract this summer after he had an outstanding performance for the Stars in the Stanley Cup playoffs, so even prior to this announcement from Seravalli it seemed unlikely that he would return to the Stars.

If there is a possible return for Holtby somewhere further down the line, he does leave the NHL on something of a high note after a shaky season the year prior to the Vancouver Canucks. Although Holtby only made a limited number of appearances this past season with the Stars, he performed well with a .913 save percentage and a 2.78 goals against average over 24 appearances. If Holtby does indeed to manage to make a full recovery, there will no doubt be an NHL team willing to take a chance on him.

I wish him a full and speedy recovery.