I mean, you could use that argument for saying we should have used Highmore.
Petan is a hands guy who is an automatic selection in the shootout at lower levels. This is his jam. Podkolzin is playing terrific right now but he is not a breakaway/dekes guy.
I think there's something to be said about how we *should* play in terms of approach vs. expectations. If you send Podkolzin over the bench with how he's been playing, and he misses, do we really say "Petan should have taken the shot."? I don't think so.
Buuuuut, should we appreciate a little bit more that Bruce went with a more colorful choice? I do. No matter what, regardless of my hypothetical, in the event that we lost someone out there is going to be saying "X should have shot." 100% of the time. That's what we do. You always play "what if?" when you lose, never when you win. Now, I think Petan wasn't a bad choice. Would I have picked him? Probably not. But that's probably because I'm playing with the idea of what gets me the least amount of shit if I'm wrong. Petan as you said, was drafted on high talent. I don't know much about the guy, but I watched him long ago at the WJCs. My ignorant scouting report reads something like "High skill, small frame, never made the show regularly, probably not great at skating." That's definitely the guy you don't mind sending in the shootout, but that's just me.