Senators' Alex Formenton NHL Return Blocked for 2025-26
.jpg "Ottawa Senators forward Alex Formenton lines up for faceoff during 2022 game.")
With the December 1 deadline now passed and no trade materializing, the restricted free agent is officially ineligible to play in the NHL in 2025-26. Despite months of effort from the Ottawa Senators front office to move his rights for a draft pick, league sources told Bruce Garrioch there was virtually no chance of a deal, and that prediction has come true.
Alex Formenton NHL rights remain with the Senators
The Senators and Formenton’s camp had agreed last summer that a change of scenery was the best path, especially after he was among five players from Canada’s 2018 world junior team found not guilty in a London, Ontario trial earlier this year.
Even with that verdict, interest from other NHL teams stayed minimal. Ottawa’s asking price was modest, just a draft pick for his rights, but no club stepped up before the clock ran out.
League sources confirm former Ottawa winger Alex Formenton wasn't dealt by the #Sens before the 5 p.m. deadline for the RFA to sign to play in the National Hockey League this season. More details below 👇 https://t.co/NlrsdwzIR3
— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) December 1, 2025
As a result, the Senators will continue to hold Formenton’s rights through July 1, 2027 unless they obtain special permission from the league to renounce them and make him an unrestricted free agent.
Formenton stays in Switzerland while others return
The 26 year old winger is signed with HC Ambri Piotta in Switzerland, where he has produced five goals and nine points in twenty games this season. He has not played an NHL game since the end of the 2021-22 campaign, and that drought will extend at least another year.
Around him, the rest of the acquitted group has taken different paths, with Carter Hart signing with the Vegas Golden Knights and Cal Foote landing with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, while Dillon Dube and Michael McLeod headed to the KHL.
Alex Formenton is currently signed with HC Ambrì-Piotta (NL).
— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) December 1, 2025
Michael McLeod is currently signed with Avangard Omsk (KHL).
Dillon Dubé is currently not under contract with any professional team.
Formenton remains the lone restricted free agent from that group, and unless something changes at the league level, his NHL storyline will stay on pause until at least next season.
Photo Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images
