We may be talking about two different aspects. I am talking about the minimum, and it appears that you are referencing the maximum.
The 2016 Arctic minimum extent (according to NSIDC) was 4.14 million sq. km. Using a linear fit, the sea ice extent will fall below 1 million in 38 years. Based on the current trend, it will be centuries before the maximum would hit that level.
The largest decline occurred in 2017. No other year was close, not even the record low in 2012.
Obviously we disagree about what is the best measure for the Arctic sea ice. However, if you are going to use volume for your metric, you cannot relate the surface albedo to volume. They are two different measures. The thickness of the ice is largely irrelevant to any surface affects, whether it is albedo or weather changes due to open water.
If you have been following the other threads, which I presume you are, you should have read about the increased cloud cover in the Arctic. This has a two-fold effect; increasing winter temperatures by reducing heat loss, and lower summer temperatures by blocking incoming solar radiation. This could explain why the 2017 minimum was only the 8th lowest, and higher than all but three of the past eleven years, while simultaneously increasing the rate of the winter maximum. In 1996, the minimum sea ice extent was 7.191 million sq. km (NSIDC). In 2012, it was 3.387. Physically, it is impossible to lose a similar amount.
Once again, no one is saying that more warmth equates to more ice. In rather simplistic terms, ice will increase if the average temperature is below freezing and decrease if it is above. The regions that I mentioned previously will remain below freezing for quite some time, and stem the losses from the increasing area that will average above freezing temperatures with the coming temperature rise. Basic physics.
The August cyclone in 2012 entered the Arctic from the Siberian side, in the warmer waters. As it moved towards the center of the Arctic, it carried with it some of that warmer water, and the combination of warmer water and intense wave action disintegrated much of the fragile ice. This was an unusual event for summer. It has not been replicated since, and consequently, summer sea ice extent has been higher in recent years. Any trend line that ended in 2012 gave a false impression of higher ice loss.