The chances of Alex Formenton playing in the National Hockey League this season are slim to none.

With a 5 p.m. EST deadline set for Monday for the former Ottawa Senators’ restricted free agent (RFA) winger to have his rights dealt elsewhere, league sources told the Ottawa Citizen on Sunday that there is virtually “no chance” a trade will happen.

The Senators have been trying to deal the rights to Formeneton elsewhere for months after he was among five players on the 2018 Canadian world junior team found not guilty of sexual assault in July in London, Ont., last summer.

If Formenton isn’t traded and signed by another team by Monday, then he won’t be eligible to play in the NHL this season.

Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, and Formenton’s Toronto-based agent, Darren Ferris of Quartex Management, agreed last summer that the best bet for Formenton was to give him a change of scenery.

The interest in Formenton from other teams has been limited, which means it’s likely that Formenton will stay with HC Ambri-Piotta the rest of the season in the Swiss league. He is signed there until the Christmas break.

The Senators wanted a draft pick in return.

Formenton, 26, has five goals and nine points in 20 games in the Ambri-Piotta this year. He was selected No. 47 overall by the Senators in the 2017 NHL draft and played in 109 games during his career.

He hasn’t played in the NHL since the end of the 2021-22 campaign.

There has been talk that the Senators could renounce Formenton’s rights and allow him to become an unrestricted free agent, but they’d need special permission from the NHL’s head office to do so.

Otherwise, they’ll hold his rights until July 1, 2027.

The players acquitted in the case _ including goaltender Carter Hart, along with Dillon Dube, Michael McLeod, Cam Foote, and Formenton _ are eligible to return to the NHL on Monday.

Formenton is the only player with an RFA status, while the rest of the players are unrestricted free agents.

Hart is the only player from that group who has signed to return to the NHL. He will likely make his return to the league with the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday after being sent to the club’s American Hockey League affiliate on a conditioning stint.

McLeod signed with Avangard Omsk in the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia, while Dube remains a UFA after the Calgary Flames stated publicly they wouldn’t be bringing him back.

bgarrioch@postmedia.com