Damien Cox: Alex Formenton? The outlaw Oilers will try anything to keep Connor McDavid - Toronto Star

We hear of sports bad boys getting second chances all the time. Rarely has one team embraced so many.

Forward Alex Formenton, signed by the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday, last played in the NHL for the Ottawa Senators in 2022. 

Damien Cox is a former Star sports reporter who is a current freelance contributing columnist based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @DamoSpin.

As NHL training camps approach, the difficult decisions facing teams are varied and intriguing.

What will Minnesota do with Quinn Hughes? Can Winnipeg find a trading partner and move Connor Hellebuyck? Can Detroit do the same with Dylan Larkin?

In Edmonton, meanwhile, the choices are much simpler: Are there any other outlaws for hire available?

As the desperation to convince Connor McDavid to stay by winning a Stanley Cup championship intensifies, they’ve been operating the Last Chance Saloon in Alberta, inviting various bad boys who have run afoul of the sport or the law to come and find a home with the ambitious Oilers.

We hear of bad boys getting second chances all the time in pro sports. Rarely, however, has one team embraced as many disgraced individuals as the Oilers.

The latest is forward Alex Formenton, one of the infamous five former Canadian junior team members charged with sexual assault involving a woman at the 2018 world juniors gala in London, Ont. All five were acquitted, but the sordid details have forever stained their reputations.