Not saying that McDavid isn't better (he is), but raw points ren't totally comparable, if you play in much higher scoring era (some might counter that current era is simply better, so numbers are higher, but... I'm somehow not convinced that this year's JT Miller, or last year Ryan Nugent Hopkins would ran away with Art Ross in 2015, and that's the conclusion if you compare raw numbers...).
I agree raw points don't always tell it all, but the
whole story does show McDavid individually dominating on a level Crosby never has either way.
In Crosby's 10th year - Voracek, Hudler, and Foligno finished 3 to 11 points behind him, and Benn literally beat him (and won arguably the weakest Art Ross in modern history). The following year (Crosby's 11th), Benn beat him again, which most people forget. Today's version of JT Miller today would abolutely be in that mix, even though he's not against McDavid. In the two Art Ross wins by Crosby, he beat 2nd place by 6 and 14 points. Connor has won it by 11, 6, 21, 8, and 24 points. Even if you use percentage, it's still in favor of McDavid's peak by a healthy margin. There's not many stats Crosby has over McDavid, regardless of how you slice it.
If we go by trophies instead of raw numbers:
McDavid has played 719 total NHL games (9yrs) and has 14 major trophies to show for it.
Crosby after 727 games (10yrs) had 9 trophies - 1 of which was a cup. He has as many as McDavid currently but has played more than twice the games to this point.
Crosby just wasn't nearly as dominant as people remember (in comparison to McDavid). He only ever did it in small sample sizes when he was plagued by injuries. The 'what if' outweighs actual results for some people, which is why some (not most) have Mario ahead of Wayne for example. That's a stance I disagree with, even though I love Mario, and prefered his style over Wayne.
I honestly think a big factor in all this is the soft spot people have for Sid, which is similar to nostagia in a way. The guy is an absolute legend and one of the best to ever do it. Once his injury concerns were behind him (2014+), he became/evolved into the first truly 'generational player' since Lemieux (drafted in 1984) to not be a disappointment in some capacity. Before him, Daigle busted (relatively), and Lindros barely had a healthy career at all. People have a soft spot for Sid for good reason. It just so happens that someone better came along, and it's hard to admit for some people old enough to rememeber Pittsburgh drafting 'the kid'. It also took 21yrs (Mario draft to Sid draft) for someone to earn the torch, where as it's only been 10yrs from Sid to Connor. It feels too soon for many. It should have been Sid's torch for longer than he was able to hold on to it, whcih feels like a slight towards a guy who's earned it. Unfair as it kight be - McDavid has also earned it and then some.
If we're talking careers - they both have 14 trophies but 3 of Crosby's are cups. I'd rather have that trophy case in the end, but Crosby is a lot closer to his end, than McDavid is. Whatever gap is left, McDavid is closing at an insane pace. I think his peak/prime is a tier above Crosby's, which is why i voted option 1. If the question was about careers as a whole - then Corsby's is sightly better but time is on McDavid's side as he's build himself a comfortable lead up to this point in their careers.
FWIW- I am old enough to have lived through the Daigle+ generational drafts, but not the Lemieux one.