I think it's a fallacy to say argument for 5th or 6th (or even 2nd or 3rd) best season in any given year = 2nd or 3rd or 5th etc best player overall broadly speaking.
Mcdavid had likely the 3rd best season last year but he's not the 3rd best player as a result, he's still consensus #1. Best season ≠ best player.
I don't think in any of those two years he was placing 1st/2nd in league scoring and making post-season all-star teams he was a better player than Crosby, Malkin, Karlsson, Giroux, Getzlaf, Kopitar, Datsyuk, Bergeron, Kane, etc.
I disagree emphatically that anything Benn has ever done (very weak Ross win) was better than Pasta's 61 goals or Panarin 120 points (higher scoring environment or not) but even if it was, that's the difference. Benn has 3 seasons and nothing of note beyond that. Pasta and Panarin and Rantanen have 6/7 HOF worthy seasons and still counting.
Agree to disagree there
Over 3 seasons
Benn was better than Kopitar, Bergeron, Getzlaf, Datsyuk, Giroux, Karlsson over the 3 year period from 2014-2016.
He was consistent while the others had up and down years, and was a PWFD build and style which was rare and valuable to have.
He was
1) 2nd in POINTS from 2013-2014 to 2016 with 255 pts in 245 games behind Crosby (273 pts in 237)
2) 3rd in goals from 2013-2014 to 2015-2016 with 110 in 245 games behind OV (1st with 154 in 238) and Pavelski (116 in 246)
3) 7th in assist from 2013-2014 to 2015-2016 with 145 assists in 245 games behind Joe Toe (177 in 242), Crosby (173 in 237), Backstrom (171 in 239), Karlsson (165 in 246), Getzlaf (151 in 231) and Giroux (151 in 241)
4) 5th in ppg league wide for that period with 1.04 ppg behind Crosby (1.15), Kane (1.13), Malkin (1.08) and Seguin (1.05). Mcdavid doesnt make the list with only 45 games played in 2016.
He was one of the best PWFDs with physical size and hitting ability and him and Seguin were the two best players on an above average at best Stars team
His 3-year peak is likely higher than Rantanen/Panarin/Pastrank tbh based on above results.
No disagreement that those 3 will be HHOF players due to having 6-7 year elite seasons vs Benn not keeping that level of play for another 2-3 years