Senators Make Significant Move on Alex Formenton Front

Alex Formenton, former Ottawa Senators forward, waits for a faceoff

Alex Formenton last played in the NHL with the Ottawa Senators back in 2022. But the Sens qualified him as a restricted free agent after that season and still retain his NHL rights. Now that he has been reinstated by the league (as of December 1st), he still has his sights on an NHL return.

But it won't be with the Senators. The team has already said they wouldn't take him back. He is one of the five former Canadian World Junior Team members who were acquitted of sexual assault charges in a highly-publicized case in a London, Ont. courtroom this past summer.

Formenton is currently on a three-month contract with Ambri-Piotta in Switzerland, and has two goals in eight games thus far this season.

Ottawa GM Steve Staios, however, has been looking to trade his NHL rights, and has gone one step further, as insider Darren Dreger revealed on TSN's Insider Trading:

Staios has given Formenton's agent Darren Ferris the permission to speak with other NHL clubs about the possibility of having his rights traded. Nothing imminent, but Formenton would like to come back.

The 26-year-old was a second-round selection by the Senators in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, and in his first pro season in 2019-20, with Belleville in the AHL, he registered 53 points in 61 games. He split the next year between the AHL & NHL, then played 79 games for Ottawa in the 2021-22 season. He recorded 18 goals and 32 points with 101 hits, while getting 15:27 average ice time per game.

He became an RFA at the end of that season as his entry-level deal expired, and while the Sens did make the qualifying offer, Formenton left for the Swiss League and played two seasons with Ambri-Piotta (29 points in 46 games) before the sexual assault charges cut his '23-'24 season short.

He might have a tough time finding an NHL team to take him back, as his 'Hockey Canada Five' acquitted colleague Michael McLeod found out this summer. He's had to accept a contract overseas as well after one NHL team flirted with signing him but faced too much backlash from fans.