Stan Bowman's next Oilers move might be his riskiest decision yet

Alex Formenton's name keeps surfacing around the Edmonton Oilers again this week, and it won't quiet down.

Oilers Now host Bob Stauffer has brought up the winger multiple times since Hockey Canada reinstated him, and Edmonton Journal columnist David Staples has argued the Oilers should explore adding him.

Here's the thing about Stauffer. He foreshadowed Mike Babcock becoming Edmonton's head coach before it happened.

So when he keeps circling back to Formenton, Oilers fans have learned to pay attention.

There's a real hockey connection here too. New Oilers associate coach D.J. Smith ran the Ottawa Senators bench from 2019 to 2023, right through Formenton's best NHL season.

Under Smith in 2021-22, Formenton played 79 games and posted 18 goals and 32 points, with five of those coming shorthanded.

That penalty-killing juice matters. Edmonton has elite top-six scoring already. What it lacks further down the lineup is speed and defensive utility that doesn't need power-play minutes to matter.

Why Stauffer's Babcock history makes this chatter hard to dismiss

Formenton hasn't played an NHL game since that 2021-22 season. He spent the years since with HC Ambrì-Piotta in Switzerland, scoring 13 goals and 23 points in 42 games during the 2025-26 season, according to the club's reported numbers.

Ottawa relinquished his NHL rights this offseason, making him an unrestricted free agent. Edmonton wouldn't have to give up a single asset to sign him.

That's basically the hockey equivalent of finding cash in a jacket you haven't worn all summer. Low risk, zero trade cost, real upside if the game translates back.

But there's a piece of this that goes beyond hockey entirely. Formenton was one of five former World Junior players charged in connection with an alleged sexual assault in London, Ontario, and all five were acquitted at trial in 2025.

On August 12, Hockey Canada announced its independent appeal board confirmed all five players had breached the organization's code of conduct anyway. Formenton was reinstated immediately.

An acquittal and a code-of-conduct finding are two different things. Any team looking at Formenton has to sit with that distinction before it sits with his shot from the left circle.

Is Edmonton actually prepared to do that work, or is this just radio speculation filling a slow week in September? Nobody outside the organization knows yet.

If the Oilers are serious, this is worth doing. A depth forward with size, speed and a shorthanded goal history costs almost nothing on a one-year deal, and Smith already knows exactly what he's getting.

Nothing here confirms a contract is coming. Staples wants it, Stauffer keeps mentioning it, and Formenton's old coach is now standing behind Edmonton's bench.

Training camp is close. Whether that's enough to turn talk into a signature is still an open question.