I get your point and I respect your knowledge of annalistic but Petan has no role with the Jets with the way he plays now. He can't make the bottom 6 players he is playing with better and he is not good enough to move anyone out of our top 6 players out of their position. Right now he belongs in the AHL and I really hope that he figures out how to be successful at the professional level but until he does he is playing right where he belongs.
That's not necessarily true and misses people's actual argument.
It's not a bottom-6/top-6 thing.
Petan played well, and had linemates who benefited with him, when Petan was with any mix of Dano, Armia, and Perreault. My guess is the pattern would hold with Connor and Roslovic as well. These players easily could form a bottom-six line with Petan (could does not mean should).
Petan played poorly, and had linemates who suffered with him, when Petan was with any mix of Thorburn and Tanev. My guess is the pattern would hold with Hendricks as well. These players Petan should in no shape or form play with.
Copp seemed to be an exception, where it dependent on the third player. Petan did poorly and his linemates did worse for it when the third was in the second group, but the opposite was true when the third was in the first group. My guess is that the pattern would hold for Lowry.
When you look at the players, it simply seems like a chemistry thing. Petan has weaknesses that makes him dependent on players to recover pucks, win battles, and finish his passes without simply playing a dump-n-chase, cycle, and grind game. That said, Petan seems to be able to maximize and optimize players who can do this.
