Alex Formenton is suing Newport Sports Management Inc. and Wade Arnott, his former agent, for negligence and breach of contract.
The former Ottawa Senators forward is one of five players accused of sexual assault in the 2018 Team Canada junior case.
Now 25, he is suing the agency for $20.5 million. He alleges he suffered lost wages over the past two seasons due to poor advice from Arnott and Newport, as well as a loss of future income. He also alleges that he was not represented to the standard expected of a professional agent, adding that the services and advice provided by Arnott and Newport Sports were negligent.
Neither the agency’s founder nor Arnott agreed to comment on the matter. Newport, which is based in Toronto, is the largest agency in the NHL. Her most notable clients include Connor Bedard, Erik Karlsson, Brad Marchand and the Tkachuk brothers.
Formenton was a second-round pick of the Sens in 2017. At the age of 17, he signed a player-agent deal with Newport, having Arnott, Meehan and agent Pat Morris as guarantors.
Formenton required the services of Newport and Arnott to obtain his rookie contract with the Senators, as indicated in the lawsuit, adding that the player-agent agreement between him and Newport expired on July 12, 2022, without being renewed.
For the next three seasons, Formenton played primarily with the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League and the Belleville Senators of the American Hockey League, the Senators’ affiliate. He established himself as a regular with Ottawa in 2021-22, a season in which he amassed 18 goals and tied the league record with five shorthanded goals.
According to Formenton’s suit, which was filed in Ontario Superior Court on October 25, the Sens presented him with a qualifying offer worth US$787,500 in July 2022, after his rookie contract expired. ended. An offer he rejected.
Formention states that he then contacted Arnott, again in July, for advice on how to proceed while he was still represented by the agency. Bad information given to him meant that he was unable to obtain a new contract and therefore was unable to play in the NHL during the 2022-2023 season.
Formenton has resigned himself to signing a $125,000 agreement with a Swiss club, Ambri-Piotta. Since January 2024, he is no longer with the team. The same month, he was accused of sexual assault, as were Dillon Dube, Carter Hart, Michael McLeod and Cal Foote.
