For a number of reasons, including the pressure of actually being the number one brigadier, Petry is unable to get his game together. So far, in 19 games, he has only two assists, a minus-7 rating and seems lost on the ice.
To make it simple, the Montreal Canadiens seem to depend on Jeff Petry. If he performs poorly, as he is right now, the Habs look like nothing... Just imagine if Petry played like a Norris, like he did last year, the CH would certainly not be drowning.
It's hard to argue with Dan Kramer since he's not in left field on this. A Petry playing 25 or 26 big minutes, activating the power play and collecting points makes a team much more complete. If it was that Petry in uniform, I'm sure the Habs would be in a different place.