The Blues haven't been busy this year during free agency, as is par for the course, but they did manage to lock up Ben Bishop today and they signed UFA forward Scott Nichol.

Scott Nichol is the definition of veteran. At the age of 36, he's this season's Darryl Sydor, but slightly younger. He's never put up major points - his career season came to 18 points (10G 8A) with Nashville in 2007-2008, and he only played 55 games last season thanks to an upper body injury sustained in February on a missed check on Erik Johnson. The contract - 1 year, $600,000 and a $100,000 bonus  - isn't anything huge, and frankly neither is the signing.

Bishop gets a one year, $600,000 contract much the same as Elliott's. I guess when they said they wanted them to compete for a spot they didn't want salary to get in the way. If you look at CapGeek, though, that amounts to a $200,000 pay cut. Goalie of the future, indeed.

For more Blues coverage, please visit SB Nation's St. Louis Blues site, St. Louis Game Time. For more hockey coverage, please visit SB Nation's hockey hub.