Connor McDavid for scoring champ, two Canadian teams in the playoffs: Readers make their NHL forecast

Earlier this week, Postmedia put out an open call for a couple of predictions a quarter of the way into the NHL season. Who will lead the league in scoring at season’s end? And which of the seven Canadian teams — if any — will make the playoffs?

We said Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby still has ample time to chase down his Edmonton Oilers counterpart, Connor McDavid, for the Art Ross Trophy. And with 60-some games remaining, the Montreal Canadiens are a post-season lock; the Oilers, Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs seem like reasonable bets.

Now, you’ve had your say. Read on for the results.

In just his second NHL season, McDavid is the heavy reader choice for scoring champ. It’s a safe pick: the Oilers captain sat atop the league with 27 points as of Thursday, three up on Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov, who placed sixth in this poll. Crosby — the points-per-game leader at 1.36 to McDavid’s 1.29 — was second by a comfortable margin.

The poll’s 651 respondents trusted reliability over current output further down the list. Veteran Blackhawks sniper Patrick Kane, who had 20 points as of Thursday, ranked third, slightly ahead of Jets centre Mark Scheifele (23 points) and Stars winger Tyler Seguin (22 points).

Maple Leafs rookie Mitch Marner rode an impressive start to seventh in the poll, with five write-in votes, tied with the Blues’ Vladimir Tarasenko.

Four players received one write-in vote (Alex Ovechkin, Alex Galchenyuk, Auston Matthews and Henrik Sedin). And it wouldn’t be an online poll without one write-in vote for good ol’ Harambe.

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Readers are exceptionally confident that a Canadian team will return to the playoffs, after barren returns in 2015-16. The team with the best chance, in your eyes, is the Canadiens, the NHL’s point leaders as of Thursday. And you’re nearly as confident in the Oilers, who pace the Pacific Division after so, so many down years.

There’s a maelstrom in the middle of the table, where three teams are seen as possible, but unlikely playoff contenders.

The Senators finished with a modest edge over the Jets, who in turn nipped the Maple Leafs. This gap is mostly relevant to the two Ontario teams, especially when the Eastern wild-card spots should be hotly contested come April.

You wished the Flames and Canucks better luck in 2017-18.