The Oilers signed Alex Formenton for one year and $850,000, and the loudest reaction in Edmonton wasn’t about his speed or his penalty-kill tape. It was a Change.org page.
Mary Loewen, the longtime superfan known as Mama Stanley, the woman who shows up sequined like the Cup itself, said she was done supporting the team while he remains on the roster. Her petition hit more than 19,000 signatures by Friday morning and kept climbing. Sexual assault support groups weighed in. Instagram comments under the team post turned into a public shaming scroll. Go ahead, type the lecture. I’ve already read the draft in my head.
Formenton was one of five former Canadian world juniors charged in connection with an alleged 2018 hotel-room incident after a Hockey Canada gala. All five were acquitted in July 2025. The judge found the complainant’s evidence not credible or reliable and stated she found actual consent. The NHL cleared them to sign in October 2025 and play beginning December 1. Hockey Canada’s independent appeal board later ruled all five breached its code of conduct, then immediately reinstated only Formenton. Carter Hart signed with Vegas and reached the Stanley Cup Final. Dillon Dubé signed with St. Louis. Ottawa passed. Edmonton did not.
The League Already Spent This Currency
I keep hearing this framed like the Oilers invented the problem on Wednesday. They didn’t. They inherited a finished legal process and a finished league process, then decided a depth forward with PK history was worth the noise during a Cup window already carrying Matt Savoie and Mattias Janmark injury questions.
Formenton’s NHL résumé is modest: 109 games, 23 goals, 16 assists. In 2021-22 with Ottawa he played 79 games and logged heavy penalty-kill minutes. Switzerland kept him sharp enough. The Oilers called it a lengthy due diligence process. They reviewed the legal proceedings, the NHL and Hockey Canada tracks, spoke with Formenton and people close to the matter, and said they were comfortable giving him the opportunity.
Formenton, for his part, hit the expected notes. “It was a difficult road,” he said. “It was tough on my family and me personally. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be here today and I’m looking forward to making the most out of it.” He also thanked the Katz family, Stan Bowman, Jeff Jackson, and Mike Babcock, and claimed he’d been open and honest about his actions throughout.
I’m not here to grade his media session like it’s a performance review. I’m here to notice what the petition itself admits up front: it does not challenge the verdict. It does not declare him guilty. It simply argues that an acquittal does not obligate fans, survivors, sponsors, or community members to bless every roster decision afterward. That’s a coherent fan position. It is also not a contract clause.
Second Chances Are Now Franchise Identity
This is the Oilers’ second high-profile offseason swing involving a figure with recent baggage. Bowman already hired Mike Babcock after the NHL cleared it. Babcock hadn’t coached an NHL game in seven years and left Columbus under a cloud. The organization is not pretending to be a purity project. It is building a contender and accepting the optics tax that comes with it.
The petition asks the club to take every lawful and contractually available step to reverse the signing and to adopt survivor-informed standards going forward. Fair ask from a fan who has been in the building since the dynasty years. Here’s the colder read: lawful and contractual steps on a signed one-year NHL deal are narrow, and the team already sent the customer-service email defending the process. They are not walking this back because a petition is loud. They calculated that the depth need and the cleared path outweighed the public relations hit.
I know the counter. Vegas took Hart and nobody in Edmonton wants to hear “but the Knights did it first.” St. Louis took Dubé. Those moves diluted the moral monopoly. You can still hate the Oilers’ choice. You cannot pretend they are the only franchise willing to cash an acquitted player’s availability. The league spent this currency already. Edmonton is just the latest shop open after hours.
Traditional media will spend the next week doing the solemn panel voice, the “statistically speaking the dressing room culture” bit, the careful both-sides that never lands. Skip energy with better lighting. The actual story is simpler and uglier: a court acquitted him, the league reinstated him, Hockey Canada made him the only immediate returnee, and a contending club with real holes on the PK decided $850,000 was a tolerable price for speed and another body.
Mama Stanley walking away is a real loss of a genuine lifer. Nineteen thousand signatures is real anger. Neither one voids an acquittal or a contract. The Oilers looked at their roster, their history of second chances, and the finished paperwork, then chose the player. Fans who wanted a cleaner brand already got their answer when Babcock got the whistle. Formenton is the sequel, not the pilot.
Edmonton will open the season with him in the mix or fighting for a spot, the petition will keep collecting names, and the only scoreboard that moves the front office still lives under the glass. The signatures are a verdict on the fanbase. The one-year deal is the organization’s reply.
