Formenton Lands in Edmonton. Ottawa Keeps Losing the Small Pieces.

Alex Formenton signed a one-year, $850,000 deal with the Edmonton Oilers this week, reuniting with D.J. Smith, the former Senators head coach now running the bench in Edmonton. It is a minor transaction by any measure — a depth winger on a league-minimum-adjacent contract. But the optics are not great for Ottawa right now.

The Senators are in the middle of an offseason that was supposed to signal a new direction. They moved Brady Tkachuk, brought in William Eklund and Jordan Spence, and re-signed Claude Giroux. The framework of a reset is there. What keeps slipping through the cracks is the secondary layer — the role players and depth pieces that fill out a roster and absorb the inevitable injuries. Formenton was not a core piece, but he is exactly the kind of player Ottawa needs more of heading into camp, not fewer.

The Batherson and Zub situations are still unresolved, which is the more pressing concern. Batherson put up 44 points in 44 games last season and is reportedly seeking an eight-year extension. That negotiation will define how much flexibility Ottawa actually has. Losing fringe pieces to division rivals while the contract table is still cluttered is just a reminder of how much remains unsettled.