Oilers sign Alex Formenton to one-year contract

Well…in case you needed another reason to dislike the Edmonton Oilers.

On Wednesday, the Edmonton Oilers announced that the team has signed forward Alex Formenton to a one-year contract. The deal will have a cap hit of $850,000 for the 2026-27 season.

Formenton is a very controversial signing by general manager Stan Bowman. Formenton, along with Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Dillon Dubé and Cal Foote, was acquitted of one count of sexual assault, which he and his teammates were accused of at a party in London, Ont., in the summer of 2018, celebrating the team’s gold medal victory at that year’s IIHF World Junior Championship.

All five players were eligible to sign NHL contracts this past December, with Hart signing with the Vegas Golden Knights, leading the team to the Stanley Cup Final. Dube signed a deal with the St. Louis Blues. Formenton, who didn’t play at all during the 2024-25 season during the trial, has spent three of the past four years with HC Ambri-Piotta of the National League in Switzerland.

Of the five players acquitted, Formenton is currently the only player eligible to play for Canada at any international events, as the other four are suspended by Hockey Canada until various dates in the future.

Formenton has been out of the NHL since 2022, when his contract with the Ottawa Senators expired. He ended up signing with Ambri-Piotta, though he later reportedly filed a lawsuit against his former agent, Wade Arnott, and Newport Sports Management Inc. for negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract. In his three seasons in Switzerland, Formenton is hardly what you’d call a premier player, having reached the 20-point mark just once, that coming this past year, when he notched 23 points in 42 games. He did help Ambri-Piotta win the Spengler Cup in 2022.

In 109 games across four NHL seasons, Formenton posted 23 goals and 16 assists for 39 points.