Alex Formenton sues agent for $20 million

[Oddbob]

Puhlease! They didn't cost him any extra money. No team was signing him in the NHL with the rape allegations regardless. Even if he got a contract it would get terminated due to breach of contract.

 

[Stive Morgan]

It is going to be hilarious when these guys are proven innocent.

I would hope so because that would mean no victim either

 

[sena]

I think it's going to be hard for Formenton to make a case here. There isn't a well established precedent of what an NHL agent is supposed to achieve when the client is an alleged rapist. And the latter is going to be the ultimate reason for his contract negotiations and career to go in the direction it went. I think for him to succeed he would have to essentially prove otherwise, and that doesn't seem very likely.

And that's before even getting into the fact that without a valid active contract between him and the agent, there wasn't any real obligation from the agent to do anything (other than maybe relay an offer if any such offer came his way).

He was given bad advice and told it was normal he didn't need to sign his offer, when in reality he did need to
There is also another factor, if these guys and the legal teams think that there is zero chance of being found guilty due to lack of any evidence they will be suing the crown for loss of income. So he might be trying to show loss of income since he is the only guy without a contract

Crown counsel must only proceed with prosecutionsFootnote1 where two conditions are met:

1. There is a reasonable prospect of conviction; and
2. The prosecution is in the public interest.

 

[JPT]

It is terrible when people get taken advantage of by others and it's not their fault and they don't want it to happen, isn't it?

The thread should have ended with this post

 

[JPT]

I know people don't like the guy, but that shouldn't cloud whether he has a case here.

He's innocent until proven guilty with the rape case. He has every right to sue the agent because of how they handled his career after the rape allegations. They don't have the right to misrepresent him just because he might've raped someone. Bad guys are represented too, and we don't even know for sure he's a bad guy. Time will tell about that.

His claims don't sound frivolous. Doubt he gets all the money he's suing for, but depending on the details he may have a case. I doubt it goes to trial. They'll probably just settle for some small amount.

Except his case is built around a claim of future earnings which would have absolutely been impacted by just the allegations, not to mention how they would have been impacted if he is found guilty.

 

[12ozPapa]

I am 53 and I give as good as I get.

So I know who to write a lawsuit making it looking like I am the second coming

Ok

 

[Dicky113]

This is pretty crazy. He’s blaming his agent for not sneaking a contract in under the wire before his rape allegations made him unsignable. Like what’s his argument for not being able to sign a contract right now other than he’s an accused rapist? This is delusional.

 

[NyQuil]

Formenton was an AHL-level player. Top-six or bust was what I heard about him, and he wasn't nearly talented enough to be top-six. So, where the hell is twenty million for future earnings coming from? The AHL doesn't pay that kind of money. Europe, to my knowledge, wouldn't pay him this amount of money. So, where the hell is he getting twenty million?

You couldn’t be more wrong with this assessment.

Alex Formenton was one of the fastest players in the league, but he also played with a bit of a physical chip and a ferocity on the forecheck, which made him extremely valuable as a bottom six guy. He wasn’t afraid to mix it up around the net and play as a bit of a pest.

Boucher: Sens' Formenton has 'McDavid-type of speed' - TSN.ca

Guy Boucher was impressed with Alex Formenton's speed at this time last year. The Ottawa Senators head coach went a couple giants steps further in assessing what he's seen so far from the rookie winger at his second NHL training camp.

www.tsn.ca

He was a fearsome weapon on the PK because if he chipped the defenceman on the line he was off to the races. 5 of his 18 goals that last season were short handed.

Formenton was an exciting prospect for Ottawa as a crucial piece toward a future third line that would have been absolute hell to play against in Formenton-Pinto-Greig.

The fact that he appears to be a terrible human being doesn’t change his skillset or what he did bring to the table to the Senators when he was there.

From losing a 1st rounder to the Dadonov debacle to this, Ottawa’s rebuild hasn’t been smooth sailing.

 

[Jumptheshark]

You couldn’t be more wrong with this assessment.

Alex Formenton was one of the fastest players in the league, but he also played with a bit of a physical chip and a ferocity on the forecheck, which made him extremely valuable as a bottom six guy. He wasn’t afraid to mix it up around the net and play as a bit of a pest.

He was a fearsome weapon on the PK because if he chipped the defenceman on the line he was off to the races.

Formenton was an exciting prospect for Ottawa as a crucial piece toward a future third line that would have been absolute hell to play against in Formenton-Pinto-Grieg.

The fact that he appears to be a terrible human being doesn’t change his skillset or what he did bring to the table to the Senators when he was there.

HIs final year in the NHL proves he could play. But as for being a terrible human? I agree he is crazy. If he truly believes in the last two years he could have made 20 million. But my guess this lawsuit will proceed after the court case and my guess is that if they are found not guilty he will use it as ammo in this case. He is going on the offensive and it will be interesting to see what happens here.

 

[NyQuil]

HIs final year in the NHL proves he could play. But as for being a terrible human? I agree he is crazy. If he truly believes in the last two years he could have made 20 million. But my guess this lawsuit will proceed after the court case and my guess is that if they are found not guilty he will use it as ammo in this case. He is going on the offensive and it will be interesting to see what happens here.

I wasn’t commenting on this particular case but rather the poster’s scouting report.

He’s allowed to sue anyone he wants, if he expects any kind of sympathy I suspect it will be lacking unless he is vindicated which seems pretty unlikely at this point.

 

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

Worked construction for a month and is already over it lmao

I don't blame him there, working in the field is terrible. The smart ones get their ticket and get into an office job, where you can make more money without destroying your joints.

Where I blame him is for being a piece of shit.

 

[NyQuil]

I know what the tactics are. I just think 20 million is especially frivolous, and suing his agent for his own stupid decisions is even more frivolous. There's not a chance in the nine levels of hell he would've sniffed 1,000 NHL games. No way he could've earned even half of that. Especially after being indicted.

He was a tweener at best. Speed and chipping in occasional offense doesn't mean shit without any defense or physicality for a third/fourth line player - and don't tell me Formenton could play defense well or he was physical when he wasn't either.



AHL/NHL tweener at f***ing best. Especially considering that he's been charged with f***ing sexual assault. It was going to come out anyway, and it did. He should've accepted the contract he was given. He should've listened to that f***ing little bit of conscience (if he even had it) that said, "Hey, sexual assault is f***ing wrong." He should've listened to his f***ing agent that he's now suing for his own f***ing mistakes.

Forgive me for not having any sympathy or any positive feelings for him or his career - or the careers of the accused, for that matter, which is what I stated in my answer to you.

You really don’t have a clue about how he played at all.

You don’t like the guy, fine.

But you also clearly never saw the guy play hockey.

I also have zero sympathy for the guy but I still have eyes and a working brain and watched virtually every single game he ever played and he was a heck of a hockey player for the Senators with a bright future.

Irrespective of his talents, some lawyers inflate the demand in the hopes that it will settle for less anyway.

 

[Jumptheshark]

I wasn’t commenting on this particular case but rather the poster’s scouting report.

He’s allowed to sue anyone he wants, if he expects any kind of sympathy I suspect it will be lacking unless he is vindicated which seems pretty unlikely at this point.

I do not trust lawyers and ANY legal system to actually work properly. My guess is that they are going to make victim out to be gold digger cheap hooker or something. A female friend of my was SA'd in Vancouver years ago and the defence lawyers more or less out her on trial by just bringing nasty stuff up, innuendos and other stuff. The two guys were found guilty but got timed served due to how the lawyer went at her.

 

[NyQuil]

In Ottawa, it became pretty apparent very early that he was one of the ones under suspicion.

At the time, Melnyk had died and his two young daughters had taken over ownership of the team. They were well-known for their public and socially progressive stances on all kinds of issues.

It was widely suspected that they wanted nothing to do with him, whether they had additional specific information or not, and that his tenure with Ottawa was at an end even if nothing amounted from the allegations.

His career would have likely ended up elsewhere even if nothing had come of it legally.

 

[SirKillalot]

The point is that trying to argue he wasn't an NHL caliber player is pretty stupid. He obviously was. There are valid reasons an NHL team might not want him and I think that will mitigate his claims for 20.5M and might even lose him the case against Newport if it went all the way,

Alex Formenton was one of the fastest players in the league, but he also played with a bit of a physical chip and a ferocity on the forecheck, which made him extremely valuable as a bottom six guy. He wasn’t afraid to mix it up around the net and play as a bit of a pest.

Answering both, yes I agree, he wouldn't necessarily have cemented himself as a long time NHL player, but he had showed he has NHL qualities. So by all means would have at least gotten one new contract if everything was normal.

Newport was trying to protect Formenton and help make this go away, at some point it became clear this wasn’t going away and he was going to be a radioactive so they would obviously want to distance themselves. It’s not a stretch that a court would rule there’s enough to warrant a trial to determine whether they breached in their duties to a client at some point.

If that was the cause, they could also have terminated the contract. What was listed was it wasn't renewed. Question is by which side wasn't it renewed. Was it the player or them? Was it them who didn't want to but were helping him "under the table", or was it him that didn't want to, but given the case couldn't get another and since he knew them he asked them and they had sympathy for him. That will be interesting to see.

He was given bad advice and told it was normal he didn't need to sign his offer, when in reality he did need to

If that is the standard norm after having a reasonably good season, its not bad advice. He didn't need to sign it, and let's just agree to your argument that if he did need to because of the case coming out, he wouldn't get a new contract after that one. So at best its a one year deal.
Also, the fact he got a contract elsewhere in Europe for two years, means that its not that he wouldn't be able to find a job within the sport. So can't see any argument going his way here.

 

[Ciao]

It is going to be hilarious when these guys are proven innocent.

That's not really how it works.

A verdict can be guilty, or not guilty.

Guilty means that guilt is proven beyond a reasoble doubt.

Not guilty means that guilt is not proven beyond a reasonable doubt. That's all.

There's no such thing as "proven innocent" in a criminal case. Exhibit "A": O.J. Simpson.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Except his case is built around a claim of future earnings which would have absolutely been impacted by just the allegations, not to mention how they would have been impacted if he is found guilty.

I alluded to that. I doubt he gets the full thing, but all the others involved played longer. He would have a good case to be able to get at least get a year or two in salary back from Newport.

 

[JPT]

That's not really how it works.

A verdict can be guilty, or not guilty.

Guilty means that guilt is proven beyond a reasoble doubt.

Not guilty means that guilt is not proven beyond a reasonable doubt. That's all.

There's no such thing as "proven innocent" in a criminal case. Exhibit "A": O.J. Simpson.

I've found these kinds of explanations of technicalities never really land with the kind of folks who think the end result of a rape case, one way or another, will be hilarious.

 

[Golden_Jet]

I have been sued and have sued people

That’s the way it’s done in the States.
Everyone gets sued.

 

[Nikolajs Sillers]

AH

 

[Maple Leaf]

I've found these kinds of explanations of technicalities never really land with the kind of folks who think the end result of a rape case, one way or another, will be hilarious.

Well you know what kind of person says that

 

[Jumptheshark]

quick question

Did he file in Canada or the US?

 

[theVladiator]

I alluded to that. I doubt he gets the full thing, but all the others involved played longer. He would have a good case to be able to get at least get a year or two in salary back from Newport.

It's very important to know that those players who managed to play longer have signed their contracts in previous years, so the conditions would have had to be different. Furthermore, even if there were some who would have signed in the same year, that on its own could not even be a proof of Newport being incompetent/negligent. Plenty of other variables in play there.

The way I understand it, Newport would have had to do something that would have had to be obviously wrong/negligent at that time. Looking back with the benefit of hindsight doesn't cut it. The thing is, nothing that came out in the article qualifies. Rejecting QO was a "standard procedure" for a player of Formenton's caliber, how can that be negligent? And what else is there?

 

[Czechboy]

I honestly expect a few more lawsuits incoming.

I will say, this may be the most unanimously agreed upon thread in HF history.lol