Crosby was hard to judge last year with a very uneven season due to injuries. And so far he's doing ok this year offensively, but nothing special (whereas many others are doing something special). He's also had two poor playoffs in a row (his team even moreso), so it's harder to say "yeah but he's good in playoffs".
I agree with you saying that McDavid is above, as well as Mack/Drai in whatever order, and after that it's a bit more tricky. You can give the benefit of the doubt to Crosby, or prefer something who is currently doing better so far this season (like Matthews). In terms of ability I don't see why Crosby would have declined so much already with age, so he should be able to still play as a top 5C (or more) - but at some point his performances need to stack up too instead of just saying "he's able to". He tends to coast a bit in the regular season in recent years, which doesn't help him much in this argument.
I voted top 5, and think he can still rival with the best - but I'm of the agreement that unless he proves it soon with actual performances, it's going to be fine to rank others above him. Like Matthews.
If you're responding to the tweet above your post - it literally said "Also, Crosby for Selke. Play him on the PK". As in - his defense is good enough to warrant selke conversation, and he should be played on the PK.
