That's a really good question, with a fairly simple answer. I didn't. It was you that started quoting me, it was only 7 posts prior to the one I'm responding to.
You are right. I am still questioning the validity of listing one or two players who they have competed with as a reason to pick one over the other as you seem to be doing.
You are saying that OV/Malkin > any of McDavid's peers with no context. I am saying that, statistically, OV and Malkin circa 07/08 and 08/09 were not putting up numbers or PPGs, relative to their peers, that we aren't also seeing in McDavid's era.
If you want to rank the best AR wins for the eight years in question, I would go:
Kane
Thornton/Crosby/Kucherov (obviously thru 51 games)
McDavid/McDavid/Malkin/OV
I think McDavid this season is pretty close production-wise to his other years, there just so happens to be one player who is clearly ahead.