Petition tops 37,000 after Oilers sign Alex Formenton

Alex Formenton was acquitted of sexual assault in 2025, but the NHL later disciplined him and Hockey Canada found he had breached its code of conduct. The Edmonton Oilers signed him Wednesday, and opposition to the decision is growing.

Alex Formenton speaks with media following an Edmonton Oilers informal skate at the Downtown Community Arena on Sept. 9, 2026, the day the team announced his one-year contract.

Photo: Andy Devlin/Edmonton Oilers.

This story includes descriptions of alleged sexual activity and sexual assault.

More than 37,000 people have signed a petition calling on the Edmonton Oilers to reverse their decision to sign Alex Formenton, two days after the club signed the former Ottawa Senators forward to a one-year NHL contract.

Edmonton signed Formenton on Sept. 9 to a deal worth US$850,000. It is his first NHL opportunity since the 2021-22 season, when he scored 18 goals and 32 points in 79 games with Ottawa.

Formenton was one of five former members of Canada’s 2018 world junior team charged with sexual assault in connection with events in a London, Ont., hotel room in June 2018. All five were acquitted in July 2025.

Mary Loewen, a longtime Oilers supporter known to Edmonton fans as “Mama Stanley,” launched a Change.org petition on Sept. 10 asking the Oilers and OEG Inc. to take any lawful and contractually available steps to reverse the signing.

By Friday evening, the petition showed more than 37,000 verified signatures.

Loewen, who identifies herself as a sexual-assault survivor, says she will not support the team while Formenton remains an Oiler.

Her petition does not challenge his acquittal or declare him guilty. Instead, it argues that a criminal verdict and an NHL club’s decision about who should represent it are separate questions.

An Ontario judge acquitted Formenton of sexual assault in 2025 and made specific findings supporting his account that his sexual encounter with the complainant was consensual. The NHL subsequently concluded that the conduct of the five players involved fell “woefully short” of league standards and imposed discipline. Hockey Canada’s separate process found all five had breached its code of conduct.

Neither the NHL nor Hockey Canada has publicly identified the specific conduct it attributed to Formenton when reaching those conclusions.

Why Edmonton signed him

The Oilers announced Formenton’s signing Wednesday.

General manager Stan Bowman has said Hockey Canada’s decision to reinstate Formenton in August played a “large role” in Edmonton’s decision. Bowman told Sportsnet the organization spent considerable time speaking with Formenton before determining that he deserved an opportunity.

Bowman also pointed to Edmonton’s penalty-killing needs. With forwards expected to contribute short-handed unavailable because of injury, he said the Oilers looked at the remaining unrestricted free agents for a particular skill set.

Formenton is known for his speed and short-handed play, and the Oilers noted in their signing announcement that he ranked second among Ottawa forwards in penalty-killing ice time during his final NHL season.

The Oilers later told fans that the organization had conducted what it described as a lengthy due diligence process, including reviewing the court proceedings and the NHL and Hockey Canada processes and speaking with Formenton and others.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told Canadian Press that Formenton had no additional league requirements to satisfy before signing with Edmonton.

Formenton described his path back to the NHL as difficult for him and his family and said he was grateful for another opportunity.

Under NHL rules, he was eligible to sign and play. Ottawa had also reportedly relinquished his NHL rights earlier this year, making him an unrestricted free agent.

The dispute is therefore not over whether Edmonton was allowed to sign Formenton, but over the club’s decision to do so.

What the NHL found

The NHL opened its own third-party investigation in May 2022 after the allegations and Hockey Canada settlement became public.

According to the league, investigators interviewed every member of the 2018 team, along with other relevant people who were willing to participate, and reviewed hundreds of documents, videos and text messages.

The NHL paused its investigation in January 2024 after prosecutors announced that five players would face criminal charges.

Following their acquittals in July 2025, the league said it considered both the results of its investigation and the court judgment.

The NHL acknowledged the not-guilty verdicts but said the conduct involved nevertheless fell “woefully short of the standards and values that the League and its Member Clubs expect.”

The league also said each player later met with NHL officials and, in the NHL’s description of those meetings, expressed regret and remorse for his actions.

The five players were permitted to sign NHL contracts beginning Oct. 15, 2025, and to play beginning Dec. 1. The NHL said it considered both their acquittals and the 20 months they had spent away from the game when establishing those dates.

The league has not publicly released a player-by-player finding explaining what conduct it attributed specifically to Formenton.

Its process was also not another criminal prosecution. The NHL was deciding whether conduct met league standards, not whether a criminal offence had been proven.

What Hockey Canada found

Hockey Canada’s process was separate from the NHL investigation and began much earlier.

The organization says it learned of the allegation on June 19, 2018, the morning after the hotel encounter, after being contacted by the complainant’s stepfather. It notified London police later that day and retained lawyer Danielle Robitaille of Henein Hutchison LLP to conduct an independent investigation.

That investigation was initially unable to reach conclusions. Hockey Canada says 10 of the 19 players who attended the London gala participated in interviews, while the complainant and nine players did not participate while the police investigation was underway.

London police closed their original investigation in February 2019 without laying charges. Henein Hutchison continued trying to obtain the complainant’s participation but recommended closing its investigation without prejudice in 2020 because it could not reach reliable conclusions without her evidence.

The case drew national attention in 2022 after E.M.’s civil claim and Hockey Canada’s settlement became public. Hockey Canada settled the claim for an undisclosed amount.

The public disclosure of the settlement triggered parliamentary scrutiny and broader examination of Hockey Canada’s handling of sexual-assault allegations. London police reopened their investigation, and Hockey Canada reopened its independent inquiry after E.M. agreed to participate.

Henein Hutchison completed its investigation later in 2022 and provided its report to an independent adjudicative panel.

The process eventually moved through three stages: investigation, adjudication and appeal.

In November 2023, Hockey Canada announced that the adjudicative panel had completed its work and an appeal had been filed. The appeal was later put on hold while the criminal prosecution proceeded.

On Aug. 12, 2026, an independent appeal board confirmed that Formenton, Dillon Dubé, Callan Foote, Carter Hart and Michael McLeod had all breached Hockey Canada’s code of conduct.

The board recommended markedly different reinstatement dates. Formenton was reinstated immediately. Foote remained suspended until Nov. 10, 2026; Hart until Nov. 10, 2027; Dubé until Nov. 10, 2028; and McLeod until Nov. 10, 2030.

Hockey Canada has not published the appeal board’s reasoning for those different sanctions, so it is not possible to determine from the public record why Formenton was reinstated immediately while the others remained suspended.

It has also not disclosed what specific conduct constituted Formenton’s code-of-conduct breach. Hockey Canada says the investigation took place under procedures in which the investigative and adjudicative processes are confidential and investigation-related documents are to be held in confidence to the extent possible.

The public finding is therefore that Formenton breached Hockey Canada’s code of conduct. Hockey Canada has not publicly found that he committed the criminal offence of sexual assault.

What happened in London in 2018

The criminal case arose from events after a Hockey Canada Foundation gala in London, Ont., on June 18, 2018.

Members of Canada’s championship world junior team were in the city for a ring ceremony and the gala. Later, several players went to a downtown bar.

E.M. met members of the team there and eventually left with McLeod for the Delta Armouries Hotel.

Formenton, who was under Ontario’s legal drinking age, did not enter the bar. According to the trial record, he went elsewhere and later returned to the hotel.

E.M. acknowledged that her initial sexual encounter with McLeod in his hotel room was consensual.

The criminal charges concerned subsequent sexual activity in room 209 involving McLeod and several other players. E.M. testified that some of that activity occurred without her consent, while the defence maintained she participated willingly.

Formenton’s charge related specifically to sexual activity with E.M. in the bathroom of room 209.

E.M. testified that she got up and went to the bathroom after men in the room discussed someone having sex with her. She said a man followed her, vaginal intercourse occurred using a condom and she subsequently performed oral sex. She testified that she felt she had to participate and did not feel in control of what was happening.

Formenton did not testify at the trial, but the court heard the statement he gave police in 2018.

His account was that E.M. had been asking whether anyone was going to do anything sexual with her, he volunteered but did not want to have sex in front of the other men, and she walked toward the bathroom while he followed. He described going there as a mutual decision.

Another player, Brett Howden, testified that Formenton appeared uncertain before going into the bathroom and asked whether what he was about to do was OK. Howden said he told him it was if E.M. was consenting.

What the videos showed

Two cellphone videos recorded in the hotel room became important evidence during the trial and have since been widely discussed in connection with the case.

Neither video shows Formenton’s sexual encounter with E.M. in the bathroom.

McLeod recorded one short video at about 3:25 a.m. in which E.M. was asked whether she was OK with what was happening and responded affirmatively.

A second 12-second recording, made at approximately 4:26 a.m., showed E.M. saying the activity had been consensual.

E.M. testified that the statements did not reflect how she actually felt. She described feeling disconnected from her body and said McLeod was trying to get her to say what he wanted on camera.

The videos were therefore evidence considered by the court when assessing consent, but they were not recordings of the sexual activity involving Formenton.

Why Formenton was acquitted

Ontario Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia acquitted Formenton, McLeod, Hart, Dubé and Foote on July 24, 2025.

Carroccia concluded that she could not rely on E.M.’s evidence, finding it neither credible nor reliable, and that the Crown had failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. She also rejected the Crown’s argument that E.M.’s consent had been vitiated by fear.

Her findings about Formenton were specific.

Carroccia found that E.M., through her words, had expressed a willingness to participate in sexual activity and accepted Formenton’s 2018 account that going to the bathroom was a mutual decision.

She concluded that the Crown had not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that E.M. did not consent to sexual activity with Formenton.

His lawyer said the following month that prosecutors had advised him they would not appeal the acquittal, and no appeal followed.

Why Formenton had already left the NHL

Formenton’s NHL absence did not originally result from the criminal charges.

After the 2021-22 season, he was a restricted free agent. He and Ottawa did not reach a contract by the NHL’s Dec. 1, 2022 deadline, and he subsequently signed with HC Ambrì-Piotta in Switzerland.

He played there in 2022-23 and again the following season.

On Jan. 24, 2024, Ambrì-Piotta granted him indefinite leave for personal reasons and allowed him to return to Canada. After the criminal charges were announced, the club said he would remain in Canada to prepare his defence.

Formenton returned to Ambrì-Piotta in September 2025 after his acquittal. The club initially signed him until the December international break with an option for the remainder of the season, then exercised that option in December.

The NHL had made him eligible to return beginning Dec. 1, 2025, but Ottawa continued to hold his NHL rights.

Sportsnet, citing Postmedia, reported that the Senators recorded a move with the NHL’s Central Registry on May 8, 2026, relinquishing those rights and effectively making him an unrestricted free agent.

Hockey Canada reinstated him in August.

Three different processes had therefore reached three different kinds of conclusions by the time Edmonton signed him: a criminal court acquitted him, the NHL found the conduct involved did not meet league standards, and Hockey Canada’s independent process found that he had breached its code of conduct.

The Oilers chose to sign him after reviewing the court, NHL and Hockey Canada outcomes.

Loewen’s petition asks the club to reverse that decision, and the number of people backing that demand continues to rise.

---