LW Alex Formenton (2017, 47th, OTT)

[cudi]

Bondra wasn't that fast by the time we acquired him. He was a season and a half away from retirement.

It was one of the more mystifying moves we'd ever made because we already had 3 RWs (Alfredsson, Hossa, Havlat) and Bondra was forced to play on his off wing.

In terms of sheer speed, it's probably between Formenton and Martin Havlat, but Nick Paul (apparently in a straight line), Erik Karlsson and Antoine Vermette were speedsters too.

Dont sleep on Schubert!

 

[NyQuil]

I post that clip like every two weeks. It's one of my favourites along with Erik Condra's attempted goal.



We finally beat Boston in that game (1-0) after losing to Tim Thomas like 14 times in a row.

If we had lost it, Erik Condra would have been burned in effigy despite his "elite stamina".

 

[majormajor]

He's projecting as a bottom-six forward in my opinion.

With his speed and surprising physicality, he's a very effective forechecker and can turn pucks over, draw penalties, and keep teams from cheating on the PP.

I would be surprised if his offensive creativity and shot are reliable enough to turn him into a top six forward, but he is valuable for what he brings to the table. He appears to be a north-south player, good in transition and at cycling, but not necessarily a reliable offensive contributor with the man advantage, or seemingly able to create opportunities out of nothing like Tim Stutzle.

As far as the forward complement is concerned, aside from Stutzle and maybe Tkachuk, everyone else is projecting as a 2nd liner, so it's likely that the team will try and build a balanced attack around the aforementioned pair, Batherson, Norris, Pinto, White, Brown, Formenton and Nick Paul. Greig and Sokolov may earn spots in the years to come.

Dzingel may not factor in beyond this season, though I've liked the pop he's provided, and he genuinely seems to like playing here. Dadonov has been a disappointment I think, he's provided some streaky offence but he was brought in to support the PP and has one assist with the man advantage to show for it.

The challenge around a line-up like that is the lack of upper end skill on the powerplay, which has been a real issue for them this season and potentially going forward. The benefit is that it may be slightly more affordable and provides some depth.

Ultimately I think the lines will be comprised of match-ups based around chemistry, as opposed to sharp delineations in skill level. I had actually picked him among our prospects as the most likely full-time contributor to the team this year, so it was surprising to me that he took this long to get a real shot.

But Dorion and DJ clearly wanted to insulate the younger players on the Senators roster and went out and acquired Dadonov, Stepan, Paquette, Watson among others who essentially created an additional barrier between him and the starting line-up.

His speed, skill set and work ethic have made an immediate impact, and I think we're only now starting to see the kind of roster that Senators fans have been dying to see all year long.

You're right in that Belleville is essentially decimated with all of the promotions this year, with Sokolov, Crookshank, Thomson and Abramov the only legitimate NHL talents on the team.

I'm more optimistic than that.

I think the high end talent is still getting their feet wet. Their scoring isn't particularly impressive but that should improve with experience, and with a better puck moving D core behind them. It's been tough with Zaitsev, Gudbranson, Brown, Coburn, and Wolanin on the backend. The skill up front is very obvious every time I tune in.

They should be fine on the PP and I expect more than 2 topline caliber players to emerge. Norris and Batherson are both in the running. Formenton has such a good effect on the game that I think he'll either be used as a high-minutes checker on a high-end checking line, or he'll be a complementary top six guy that plays on every line, wherever speed and power are needed. They'll use the heck out of him. 4th liner can almost be ruled out.

 

[NyQuil]

Formenton has such a good effect on the game that I think he'll either be used as a high-minutes checker on a high-end checking line, or he'll be a complementary top six guy that plays on every line, wherever speed and power are needed. They'll use the heck out of him. 4th liner can almost be ruled out.

We'll see what develops, but I don't necessarily disagree.

I'm not sure if we'll see a fair amount of similarity amongst the top three lines in terms of ice time and responsibility, or if they do end up going with some kind of overloaded Batherson-Stutzle-Tkachuk first line if Tim makes the transition to the pivot position.

Their scoring isn't particularly impressive but that should improve with experience, and with a better puck moving D core behind them. It's been tough with Zaitsev, Gudbranson, Brown, Coburn, and Wolanin on the backend.

As far as transition play is concerned, it's been night and day with Brannstrom now playing regularly and a guy like Mete spelling in for our slower guys like Coburn and Gudbranson.

 

[Peasy]

Any potential that he could turn into a Hyman type complementary player? Or do you think he'll be more of like a Hagelin.

I have Formenton in a dynasty league so just curious.

 

[NyQuil]

Any potential that he could turn into a Hyman type complementary player? Or do you think he'll be more of like a Hagelin.

I have Formenton in a dynasty league so just curious.

As said elsewhere, he's definitely a bit more scrappy than a guy like Grabner or Hagelin. He picked a fight of sorts in the last game with 6'7 Logan Stanley. So while his speed is a primary weapon, he doesn't shy away from physical situations.

He's produced as a top six guy in certain roles in Junior and on Belleville, but he's in a bit of a glut of young guys who will likely all get different opportunities to play with different players.

Nick Paul just scored his 4th goal of the season last night, so his offence has been missing of late, but he'd nevertheless recently been put with Brady Tkachuk anyway so they can create opportunities together off the cycle using their large frames.

DJ Smith has already lauded Alex's PK abilities (which were fairly obvious from when he was drafted), so from a PP ice-time point of view, I suspect he's behind quite a few guys who can't contribute like he can shorthanded.

Hard to tell really for me at this point. He might click with someone like Stutzle and he's off to the races.

And thank you much for spelling "complementary" correctly.

 

[majormajor]

We'll see what develops, but I don't necessarily disagree.

I'm not sure if we'll see a fair amount of similarity amongst the top three lines in terms of ice time and responsibility, or if they do end up going with some kind of overloaded Batherson-Stutzle-Tkachuk first line if Tim makes the transition to the pivot position.

That could end up being the top trio.

Or Stutzle-Norris-Tkachuk. I think that might be the next Naslund-Morrison-Bertuzzi. Still not sure if Brady fits or needs to be with that duo. Batherson clicks really well with Stutzle and Norris, at least in my more limited viewings. I've seen about 20-25 Sens games this year.

As far as transition play is concerned, it's been night and day with Brannstrom now playing regularly and a guy like Mete spelling in for our slower guys like Coburn and Gudbranson.

Right. I'm not sure if Mete really fits long term but it has been nice to see for now. They end up looking very small with Mete and Brannstrom. Anyways, I expect the backend problem will be resolved when Sanderson emerges in a couple years.

 

[majormajor]

Any potential that he could turn into a Hyman type complementary player? Or do you think he'll be more of like a Hagelin.

I have Formenton in a dynasty league so just curious.

Formenton has a lot more power than Hagelin. I do think he could be a Hyman type complementary player. Not as compact but he's faster and he's physical. He'll be closer to Josh Anderson than Carl Hagelin.

 

[cudi]

Any potential that he could turn into a Hyman type complementary player? Or do you think he'll be more of like a Hagelin.

I have Formenton in a dynasty league so just curious.

I've always compared him to a guy like Jason Chimera.

Can plug and play on any line, big-ish, good pker, fast as f*** and can chip in offensively on a semi regular basis.

 

[GermanSpitfire]

Any potential that he could turn into a Hyman type complementary player? Or do you think he'll be more of like a Hagelin.

I have Formenton in a dynasty league so just curious.

I don’t see it, Andrew Cogliano is what i envision his peak to be.

 

[majormajor]

I've always compared him to a guy like Jason Chimera.

Can plug and play on any line, big-ish, good pker, fast as f*** and can chip in offensively on a semi regular basis.

I think that's a pretty good comp. I think Formenton will be more impactful than that but that's the general style and role. If Chimera was just a little bit smarter and didn't go offsides six times per game he'd have been a more impactful player.

 

[The Devilish Buffoon]

I don’t see it, Andrew Cogliano is what i envision his peak to be.

Forms is gonna be much more of a pest & physical presence than Cogliano. I'm thinking a slightly less physical Kreider with less PP ability and a much lower shooting %. Which, fwiw, would place him in the 15-20 goal, 35-40pt range.

 

[Peasy]

16 points in his last 18 games.

Sen fans, how was Formenton been looking these past 2 months? Is he looking like the real deal, or is this just a hot streak?

Obviously dont expect him to keep up that current pace, but I always felt like this kid was slept on in relation to other prospects. Hes an exceptional skater so I always thought he would find a role in at least the bottom 6 in the NHL, but these past two months it seems like his offence is starting to pick up in the NHL like it did in the AHL.

Important to note that he has 0 PPP over this stretch as well.

 

[ORRFForever]

Important to note that he has 0 PPP over this stretch as well.

That is impressive. So many players pad their stats with a touch assist during a PP.

 

[NyQuil]

16 points in his last 18 games.

Sen fans, how was Formenton been looking these past 2 months? Is he looking like the real deal, or is this just a hot streak?

Obviously dont expect him to keep up that current pace, but I always felt like this kid was slept on in relation to other prospects. Hes an exceptional skater so I always thought he would find a role in at least the bottom 6 in the NHL, but these past two months it seems like his offence is starting to pick up in the NHL like it did in the AHL.

Important to note that he has 0 PPP over this stretch as well.

It's always hard to tell, but he's recently been given opportunities to play with a talented 1C/2C in Tim Stutzle and the chemistry is palpable.

I'd had him pegged as a bottom six grinder with speed to burn and some offensive pop, but he might turn into a complementary top six winger if he can keep his production up.

Concern about him was always about his hands and his finish. He's so good at getting into scoring areas, but he never seemed to make the most of the many opportunities.

Lately he's been so much more lethal, but it's hard to know if it's a hot streak or not until we see a larger sample size in the top six.

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

16 points in his last 18 games.

Sen fans, how was Formenton been looking these past 2 months? Is he looking like the real deal, or is this just a hot streak?

His game found new heights being paired with Stutzle; whom have shown great chem together. In that same span, Stutzle has 12 points in 15 games as his centre.

Hot streak or not, Formenton will be another Pageau like weapon for Ottawa who will be one of the best specialists in the league and worth double their worth in the post-season.

 

[Yak]

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Safe to say this is his emergence eh?

Never underestimate chemistry, if he has a thing with TS, that can go a long way for both players, even if some disagree he's a 'true' top-sixer.

 

[The Devilish Buffoon]

Safe to say this is his emergence eh?

Never underestimate chemistry, if he has a thing with TS, that can go a long way for both players, even if some disagree he's a 'true' top-sixer.

I wouldn’t say he has great chemistry with TS. Doubt he’s a long term fit there. Also think he has another level when it comes to consistency, especially physical consistency. Not to say I think he will blow away his offensive totals from this year.