Edmonton Oilers
Second Chance: Oilers Sign Forward Alex Formenton to 1-Year Deal
The Edmonton Oilers have signed forward Alex Formenton to a one-year deal. Will his Hockey Canada scandal be an issue?
The Edmonton Oilers have signed forward Alex Formenton to a one-year deal, the team announced on Wednesday. The deal is worth $850K, and it will certainly draw a polarizing reaction from the fan base given his involvement in the Team Canada lawsuit.
The 26-year-old winger spent the past three seasons with HC Ambri-Piotta in Switzerland, recording 52 points in 88 games. A former second-round pick of Ottawa, Formenton has 39 points in 109 NHL games and brings speed, penalty-killing experience and 79 games of NHL experience in a season.
Oilers Now host Bob Stauffer had been the one raising the Formenton connection, and Edmonton Journal columnist David Staples had argued the team should explore adding him. No reporting at the time suggested the Oilers had reached out to Formenton or his representatives. It’s clear that they had.
New Oilers associate coach D.J. Smith ran the Ottawa Senators bench from 2019 to 2023, overlapping with Formenton’s best NHL season, giving him some familiarity with the player. That could be where this connection is coming from. Formenton is a “big, rangy guy who can skate” and a good penalty killer, but reports from Switzerland noted that he wasn’t particularly great there. Most speculation centered on a league-minimum contract or a professional tryout (PTO) rather than a guaranteed deal. To see they’ve signed him to a one-year contract will come as a surprise.
Formenton is tied to the 2018 Hockey Canada scandal — he was among the players charged, though he was later acquitted and reinstated internationally. Several outlets have pointed out the Oilers already chose not to pursue Carter Hart, seen as the strongest player among the acquitted group, making a Formenton pursuit feel like a stretch. Fan reaction will be mixed.
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