One thing to consider for all the guys you list here is that Crosby has 15 straight seasons of pretty elite play.
just pick the season where his play was the worst of his career then look and see how good his production was in his so called worst year of play.
Then do the same for the others in their 15th best season of performance.
Crosby does have a lot of good seasons (if we ignore durability and
full seasons, of course!). I dunno about 15 "elite" ones, though. In two of the past three seasons, he was outside the top-10 PPG producers. With him not getting any younger and the general decline of the Pens being (so I'd guess) imminent, it seems
unlikely to me that he'd be back in the top-10, though you can't rule him out.
Anyway, his PPG finishes (again, this does include some half-completed seasons) are:
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6
That is really,
really good by any standard. Now, those "1's" of his include a 41-game partial season and a 36-out-of-48 games season, but if he wasn't 1st anyway in those seasons he'd have been second or third at worst. So, however you slice it, he's been in the top-5 PPG players
eleven times (top-6 twelve times).
Maybe it's not that unusual to find the dominant players of a given era having that many top-10 PPG finishes, but that many in the top-5 (and most of his are top 3) is quite rare indeed.
For comparison's sake (I'll leave the superhumans -- Wayne, Mario, Gordie -- out):
Top-5 PPG:
11 - Crosby
11 - Richard
10 - Mikita
9 - Béliveau
9 - Jagr
8 - Apps
8 - Esposito
8 - Hull
7 - Malkin
6 - Dionne
6 - Lafleur
6 - Lindsay
5 - Bossy
5 - Cowley
5 - Forsberg
5 - Lindros
5 - Ovechkin
5 - Sakic
4 - Kurri
4 - Trottier
4 - Yzerman
3 - Clarke
(Howie Morenz was 8 x top-5 in goals. I don't think we can fairly compare "points" or "assists" totals from back then. I won't even try with Frank Nighbor...)
Top-3 PPG:
9 - Béliveau
9 - Crosby
9 - Jagr
9 - Mikita
8 - Esposito
7 - Richard
6 - Hull
6 - Lafleur
6 - Malkin
5 - Lindsay
4 - Apps
4 - Cowley
4 - Dionne
4 - Lindros
3 - Forsberg
3 - Ovechkin
3 - Sakic
2 - Bossy
2 - Kurri
2 - Messier
2 - Trottier
1 - Yzerman
(Hope I didn't overlook anyone too obvious on these lists!) So, the point is, looking at top-5 and even
really elite top-3 point producers over the League's history -- and with the exceptions of the best three forwards ever [see below], and he's matched one of those guys in top-5's -- Crosby is equal to basically
anyone in the NHL's history. Those are some pretty awesome players he's above.
The only reasons I personally don't start throwing Crosby way up into the top-10 all time players lists are:
1) Too many missed games in his prime. The good news is he can still more-or-less compensate for this if he demonstrates exceptional longevity at a high level. So far, he's looking good.
2) Slight lack of domination in key moments, notably in NHL Cup Finals. I mean, he's won three Cups (and one legit and one bogus Conn Smythe), so nothing to apologize for, but if we're talking the top-5 or whatever forwards of all time I need to see a bit more elite-level performance on the biggest stages.
Maybe my #2 is a bit unfair, as the goal is to win games and championships and not to pile up stats... but these are the super tough standards to get your name up there with the top 10 guys ever.
His consistency is really impressive.
By the way, here's those other guys I left off the lists above:
Top-5:
19 - Howe
14 - Gretzky
11 - Lemieux
Top-3:
14 - Gretzky
11 - Howe
11 - Lemieux