Here's a comparison of SST anomalies for June 15th 2012 (left), 2016 (middle) and 2017 (right).
2017 is more similar to 2016 than 2012, especially on the Pacific side, but is also warming up more and more on the Atlantic side. I would expect more 'heat' in the Beaufort hole, but the colours can fluctuate somewhat from day to day (for instance, the red at the top, in the Bering Strait and Sea, was more conspicuous yesterday and the day before).
I believe that sea surface temperature (or ocean heat flux to be more precise) was one of the reasons 2016 still ended up as low as it did. Maybe this will play a role again this year. Or perhaps it already does, which explains why SIE keeps going down steadily, even though there is relatively little preconditioning (like Rob says). But I think the Beaufort Gyre plays a role as well.
One big question I have: Will a slow/late melt of the periphery (Barents, for instance) still protect the core? One would think that if ice is as thin as PIOMAS says, we get more holes within the pack, and with cyclone dominance, massive divergence (like we saw last year).
But, anyway, here is the DMI SSTa comparison. I'll post another one as soon as images in my archive line up again (I didn't use to download these maps very often, except for ASI updates):