Alex Formenton is an unrestricted free agent after the Ottawa Senators officially cut ties with the winger.
Per Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch, Ottawa removed him from their free agent list on May 8, releasing their rights and making him an unrestricted free agent. The Senators have been trying to rid themselves of his rights for a while now, with the team officially deciding in September that Formenton would not be rejoining the team and looking for possible trades in hopes of landing a late-round draft pick. The Senators held Formenton’s rights for nearly four years after he did not sign a qualifying offer as a restricted free agent in July 2022.
Formenton has not played an NHL game since the 2020-21 season, spending three of the last four years with HC Ambrì-Piotta in Switzerland. During the 2025-26 season, he recorded 23 points (13g, 10a) in 42 games and had a plus/minus of minus-13.
Formenton missed the entire 2024-25 season after being one of the five players accused in the 2018 Canadian World Junior sexual assault case. All five players were later acquitted, but remained ineligible to play in the NHL immediately following the ruling as the league reviewed the case, stating that while the players’ actions may not have been deemed criminal, they were “very disturbing,” “unacceptable,” and fell “woefully short of the standards and values that the league expects and demands.”
Goaltender Carter Hart is the only of the five to play in the NHL since, signing with the Vegas Golden Knights and backstopping them to the Stanley Cup Final.
According to the German newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung, several NHL teams have been rumored to have interest in Formenton, including the Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers.
Formenton has recorded 39 points (23g, 16a) over 109 NHL games with the Senators. He also spent time in the AHL during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons before playing the entire 2021-22 season with Ottawa, scoring 18 goals in 79 games.
