The Ottawa Senators will officially be without one of their promising young players for the remainder of the season, as there’s been no word that the club could come to terms on a contract extension with Alex Formenton ahead of the 5 p.m. ET deadline on Dec. 1.
Formenton, who had been holding out for a new deal since hitting restricted free agency this summer and had not played for the Senators at all this season, is now officially ineligible to play in the NHL for the remainder of 2022-23.
Missing this deadline does not preclude Formenton from signing with a club in a professional league outside of the NHL, however, as the 23-year-old will likely find a landing spot overseas for the remainder of the campaign while his rights will stay with the Senators for the time being.
That is, if they choose to keep him in the fold.
The fact that the Senators and Formenton’s camp were unable to agree on a new contract thrusts the former second-round pick’s future in Ottawa into serious doubt. It’s odd, as well, given that Formenton showed flashes of real potential in his first full NHL season last year, racking up an impressive 18 goals and 14 assists for 32 points in 79 games.
With game-breaking speed and plenty of developmental room left, Formenton should, in theory, have been a coveted asset for the Senators right now as they plan to take a step forward in their contention journey.
Alas, that does not appear to be the case. And now Formenton will spend one of his prime years outside of hockey’s highest level.
Formenton was a member of the Team Canada world juniors team in 2018.
A woman alleged she was sexually assaulted by eight CHL players, including members of the world juniors team, in a London, Ont. hotel room in June 2018. Although there are multiple investigations underway, no names of the alleged have been made public, and nobody has been charged at this point.
When asked if the investigations into the allegations against that 2018 team played a factor in Formenton’s contract status during training camp, Senators GM Pierre Dorion replied with a simple, “No.”
Dorion also told The Athletic’s Pierre Lebrun in September that the contract negotiations and the Hockey Canada investigation are “two separate things.”
“One’s a contract issue and one’s a Hockey Canada issue that I can’t comment on until the NHL investigation is over,” Dorion told Lebrun.
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