It was record high the whole year.

http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/files/2023/09/asina_S_iqr_...

In that case the line would've been constantly on top in the article, like the current year is below it, but it isn't. While high it intermingles with the other lines, and is nowhere as much an outlier.

Also 2014 seems to've been more ice due to record snowfall, which is easier to freeze than the regular freezing of the sea. Seems to be in line with climate models predicting more erratic weather. Good example of why they weren't worried about that, since it's expected, but worried about this, since it isn't.

The article wants to convince you in something and naturally the visuals are adjusted to help that goal. Have a look at the raw data if you like.

So far, as much as I can see, the current climate models do not predict absolutely anything in advance, but are used to explain things afterwards to show that anything is caused by co2.