The Edmonton Oilers are currently on a miniature bye week and sit in a tie for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference with an 11-9-2 record. That’s not where the Stanley Cup hopefuls wanted to be at American Thanksgiving.

With just over one-quarter of the season in the books, now is a good time to get a look into what’s working for the Oilers and who needs to be better. Here are report cards for the main 12 forwards on Edmonton’s roster.

The MVP of the Oilers thus far has been Leon Draisaitl, who leads the team with 30 points and is tied for the league lead in goals with 16. Once criticized for being a power play merchant, 14 of Draisaitl’s 16 goals this season have come at even strength and five of them have been game-winners.

Expectations are high for the German centre after signing a record-setting eight-year, $112 million contract in the summer and he’s come through with some of the best two-way hockey of his career. A full season like this will have Draisaitl in the conversation for his second Hart Trophy.

It’s been an eventful few months for Edmonton’s captain, who was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy following his team’s Game 7 loss in the Stanley Cup Final in the spring and then became the fourth-fastest in NHL history to 1,000 points in the fall. McDavid had an opportunity to beat Mike Bossy as the third-fastest ever to 1,000 NHL points but a slow start to the season resulted in him coming up a little short of the New York Islanders legend.

Since scoring five points in his first five games, McDavid has 23 points in his last 14 and now sits just outside the top ten in league scoring with 28 points in 19 games. He scored 142 points in 101 games between the regular season and playoffs in 2023-24 and continues to produce despite last season’s marathon.

A lot of depth players upped their game for the Oilers during the Stanley Cup Final run but nobody has carried more momentum into this season than Mattias Janmark. The Janitor scored only four goals last year but earned a three-year contract in the off-season after chipping in on a very successful third line and a nearly unbeatable penalty kill unit in the playoffs.

Through 22 games this season, Janmark is only two shy of matching the 12 points he scored in 71 games in 2023-24. He’s third among forwards in points on the Oilers with 10, behind only Draisaitl and McDavid despite playing fairly heavy defensive minutes.

Another player who has turned things around considerably since this time last year is Connor Brown, another member of the aforementioned third line from the playoffs. Coming off a major knee injury, Brown didn’t score his first goal with the Oilers until March, his 55th game of the season.

He inked another one-year deal with Edmonton after a strong showing in the playoffs and has been the player the Oilers expected. The feisty winger has three goals and seven points and has been effective on the penalty kill.

After Dylan Holloway inked an offer sheet with the St. Louis Blues, it created an opportunity for Vasily Podkolzin, who the Oilers acquired from the Vancouver Canucks for a fourth-round pick. The Russian winger was selected with the tenth overall pick in the 2019 draft but the Canucks went through a front office change and he fell out of favour in Vancouver.

Though his one goal and six points in 22 games seems underwhelming at a glance, Podkolzin’s play since arriving in Edmonton has been very encouraging. He’s found chemistry playing with Leon Draisaitl and has the second-highest expected goals-for percentage on the Oilers. The 23-year-old also leads the team with 52 hits this season.

With the benefit of hindsight, the Oilers might have been better off prioritizing their young restricted free agents before rushing to sign veteran wingers this off-season.

That said, Perry has been solid for the Oilers on a one-year, $1.15 million contract. He’s scored four goals and six points, putting him on pace to surpass the 12 goals he scored in both 2022-23 and 2023-24, and has also provided size and physicality up front. The concern is less about how the 39-year-old has played in October and November and more about how he’ll look come playoff time in the spring.

The final member of Edmonton’s third-line trio mentioned earlier is Adam Henrique, who the Oilers acquired ahead of last season’s trade deadline and re-signed to a two-year, $6 million contract. With Janmark and Brown on his wings, Henrique scored six goals down the stretch and added four more in the playoffs.

There’s nothing to complain about when it comes to Henrique’s defensive play as the third-line centre this season. He’s in the green in terms of goal differential, he’s one of the most used forwards on the penalty kill, and he’s won 52.2 percent of his faceoffs. That said, making $3 million annually, the 34-year-old needs to have more than two goals and six points through 22 games.

Following the first 20-goal season of his career, the Oilers let Warren Foegele walk to sign a multi-year deal with the L.A. Kings in free agency. They replaced his spot on the roster with Viktor Arvidsson, a former 30-goal, 60-point winger who was limited to just 18 games in 2023-24 with the Kings.

Arvidsson scored two goals and five points over his first 16 games with the Oilers along with very strong underlying numbers but has seemingly vanished because of an undisclosed injury. The 31-year-old last suited up on November 12 against the New York Islanders and has since been placed on the Injured Reserve.

It’s been a very slow start to the season for Nugent-Hopkins, as the versatile forward has only two goals and nine points through 22 games. He’s managed to maintain solid defensive play, logging major minutes on Edmonton’s penalty kill and posting positive on-ice shot and scoring chance metrics.

As one of the forwards paid over $5 million annually, the Oilers badly need RNH to find his game offensively. He’s on pace for a career-low 34 points, which would be a massive drop from the 67 he scored in 2023-24 and an even larger decline from the 104 he scored in 2022-23.

Another veteran winger who the Oilers need to get going offensively is Hyman, who has three goals and eight points over 20 games. It’s not for a lack of effort, as the gritty winger has continued to forecheck hard and crash the net, but he’s been bogged down by an uncharacteristically low 5.9 shooting percentage.

Over his first three seasons in Edmonton, Hyman scored 117 goals in 235 regular season games and 30 goals in 53 playoff games. Expecting another 54-goal campaign is probably too much, but the Oilers need Hyman to wind up in the 30-goal range.

It’s possible that adding a player who was let go by the team with the longest playoff drought in NHL history wasn’t the right decision. Jeff Skinner scored 24 goals and 46 points for the Buffalo Sabres in 2023-24 but the team opted to buy out the final three years of his contract in the off-season.

Through 22 games with the Oilers, the former Calder Trophy winner has four goals and seven points but has been relegated to fourth-line minutes because of poor play away from the puck. The Oilers have been outscored 16-to-7 over 278 even-strength minutes with Skinner on the ice, the worst goals-for percentage of any forward on the team.

The second-worst goals-for percentage among forwards on the Oilers is owned by Derek Ryan, who’s been outscored 9-to-5 over 186 even-strength minutes. Despite having suited up in 20 of Edmonton’s 22 games, the U of A Golden Bears alum has zero goals and only two points on the season.

The saving grace for Ryan this season is that he’s been the team’s best centre on draws with a 60.7 percent winning percentage on the dot. The 37-year-old is at risk of losing his roster spot with Noah Philp pushing for it on the Bakersfield Condors.