Senators cut ties with Alex Formenton, making winger an unrestricted free agent

Alex Formenton arrives at the courthouse in London, Ont., for the start of his trial in 2025. Formenton was one of five members of the 2018 Canadian World Junior hockey team charged with sexual assault and later acquitted. Derek Ruttan/Postmedia Network

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The Ottawa Senators have cut ties with Alex Formenton and he’s free to find work in the National Hockey League.

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League sources told the Ottawa Citizen on Thursday that the Senators removed the 26-year-old winger from their free agent list last month, which has allowed him to become an unrestricted free agent.

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The Senators decided on May 8 with the league’s Central Registry office, the same day the club signed Stephen Halliday to a two-year contract extension.

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The Senators had been trying to deal the rights to Formenton elsewhere after he was among five players on the 2018 Canadian world junior team found not guilty of sexual assault in a London, Ont., trial that ended in July 2025.

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Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, and Formenton’s Toronto-based agent, Darren Ferris of Quartexx Management, agreed last summer that the best bet for Formenton was to give him a change of scenery.

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That will finally happen for Formenton, who hasn’t played in the National Hockey League since the end of the 2021-22 campaign. The Senators tried to trade his rights early last season, but the interest was limited with Staios looking for a late draft pick in return.

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Where has Formenton been playing?

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Formenton has spent the past three seasons with HC Ambri-Piotta in the Swiss league. He posted 13 goals and 23 points in 42 games this past season.

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A speedy winger with good size, Formenton was drafted No. 47 overall by the Senators in 2017. He has posted 23 goals and 39 points in 109 games in his NHL career.

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The Senators held his rights because he didn’t sign a qualifying offer as an RFA in July 2022.

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The players acquitted in the case — including goaltender Carter Hart, along with Dillon Dube, Michael McLeod, Cal Foote and Formenton — were eligible to return to the NHL midway through last season.

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Formenton was the only player with RFA status, while the rest of the players are unrestricted free agents.

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Hart was the only player from that group who had signed to return to the NHL. He made his return to the league with the Vegas Golden Knights after being sent to the club’s American Hockey League affiliate on a conditioning stint.

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McLeod signed with Avangard Omsk in the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia, while Dube remains a UFA after the Calgary Flames stated publicly they wouldn’t be bringing him back. Foote signed in the AHL.

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