I have no problem accepting facts, but I haven't seen any from the contrarian side.
Here are the facts:
Bishop was a qualifying group 6 free agent (less than 28 nhl gp needing at least 30min icetime to qualify each game, with 3 years of professional experience over the age of 25) when we first acquired him, he signed an extension with us anyway. That group 6 status carried over into the next season in 2012-2013 until he crossed that barrier:
GP 1 (30min+) -> STL vs LAK (2008-10-24)
GP 2 (30min+) -> STL vs FLA (2008-10-25)
GP 3 (30min+) -> STL vs WSH (2008-12-18)
GP 4 (30min+) -> STL vs ANA (2011-02-19)
GP 5 (30min+) -> STL vs CHI (2011-02-21)
GP 6 (30min+) -> STL vs EDM (2011-02-25)
GP 7 (30min+) -> STL vs CGY (2011-02-27)
GP 8 (30min+) -> STL vs CGY (2011-03-01)
GP 9 (30min+) -> STL vs NYI (2011-03-05)
GP 10 (30min+) -> STL vs CBJ (2011-03-07)
GP 11 (30min+) -> OTT vs TBL (2012-03-06)
GP 12 (30min+) -> OTT vs NYR (2012-03-08)
GP 13 (30min+) -> OTT vs BUF (2012-03-10)
GP 14 (30min+) -> OTT vs MTL (2012-03-14)
GP 15 (30min+) -> OTT vs MTL (2012-03-16)
GP 16 (30min+) -> OTT vs TOR (2012-03-17)
GP 17 (30min+) -> OTT vs NJD (2012-03-20)
GP 18 (30min+) -> OTT vs BOS (2012-04-05)
GP 19 (30min+) -> OTT vs TBL (2013-01-25)
GP 20 (30min+) -> OTT vs WPG (2013-02-09)
GP 21 (30min+) -> OTT vs NJD (2013-02-18)
GP 22 (30min+) -> OTT vs TOR (2013-02-23)
GP 23 (30min+) -> OTT vs MTL (2013-02-25)
GP 24 (30min+) -> OTT vs PHI (2013-03-02)
GP 25 (30min+) -> OTT vs TOR (2013-03-06)
GP 26 (30min+) -> OTT vs BUF (2013-03-16)
GP 27 (30min+) -> OTT vs NYI (2013-03-19)
GP 28 (30min+) -> OTT vs NJD (2013-03-25)
There's 28gp right there, ufa group 6 status averted.
If I'm wrong, I'd genuinely like to know. Capgeek and credible bloggers like the6thsens have also taken contrarian positions to this claim.
Edit* The official NHL transaction link also refers to Bishop as a RFA during the OTT-TB trade:
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=663788