I guess maybe you didn't understand what people meant when they were hyping Crosby as the Next One. Nobody was saying Crosby at 18 would have the impact Gretzky had at 24. If you were expecting that then I'm not sure what to say to you. As for the hype itself, Crosby still very much has the potential to dominate the way the greats have dominated once they entered their prime years.
Unfortunatly for extreme Crosby hypers, and VERY fortunately for us hockey fans, we are blessed by two potential generational talents in back to back draft years. Saying Crosby is head and shoulders above everyone in his age group is accurate, if Ovechkin wasn't in the picture Crosby would be head and shoulders above everyone even near his age.
The bottom line is, anyone saying Crosby has failed to live up to expectations either had f'd up expectations or just refuses to acknowledge they were wrong about him.