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Ottawa Senators: Alex Formenton Expected to Make Season Debut

By Daniel Bruce |
MONTREAL, QC - FEBRUARY 19: Alex Formenton #10 of the Belleville Senators skates against the Laval Rocket during the first period at the Bell Centre on February 19, 2021 in Montreal, Canada. The Laval Rocket defeated the Belleville Senators 5-2. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - FEBRUARY 19: Alex Formenton #10 of the Belleville Senators skates against the Laval Rocket during the first period at the Bell Centre on February 19, 2021 in Montreal, Canada. The Laval Rocket defeated the Belleville Senators 5-2. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
Alex Formenton #10 of the Belleville Senators (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
Alex Formenton #10 of the Belleville Senators (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /

Alex Formenton finally returns to the Senators lineup after playing his last NHL game at the beginning of the 2018-19 season

The youth movement in Ottawa took another step forward today with the recall of Alex Formenton to the Taxi-Squad and the insertion of him into the lineup on Wednesday evening versus Calgary.

Formenton is expected to be on the right-side with Clark Bishop and Ryan Dzingel who’ve already shown chemistry so far this season with the recently injured Austin Watson, who was rocking a cast on his arm today at the morning skate:

This creates an intriguing bottom line for D.J. Smith and staff as Formenton, Bishop and Dzingel are all great skaters and should be able to exploit opposing teams in transition, a rarity for most fourth lines.

The initial prognosis doesn’t look great for Watson and it appears that he could be sidelined for a while, tomorrow the team expects to have a better idea on the extent of the injury.

Now comes Formenton as the “next man up” that coaches often preach about and out of all the potential call-ups from Belleville, the speedy-winger was the correct choice. In 12 games Formenton has 4 goals and has no assists to show for his efforts, but with a depleted Belleville roster, points have been hard to come by, but the stat sheet doesn’t always show the impact he has on the game. His world-class speed and tremendous versatility make him a great addition to the lineup and he will hopefully get more special teams time than most fourth liners.

Formenton has shown ability on the penalty kill at the AHL level and his speed is sure to create chances coming the other way as well, it seems as if the second-year pro has a breakaway every game. In the chance below the Senators top-prospect simply creates something out of nothing, in a split second a seemingly harmless neutral zone possession can turn into a partial-breakaway.

It will be a treat for Senators fans to be able to watch the elite skating of Formenton, Brian5or6 was on the bandwagon a while ago.

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