I don't think it was "regardless of how he performed". I think it was precisely because of his performance. A few good shifts won't change a history of 10 previous games, or poor performance in practice.
Hartley won't say "nice assist, Sven, you are now on the second line". "Earned" occurs over more than one game. And, in fact, in his better games, Sven got more than his average amount of time. Then he regressed again. The improvement never seemed to stick.
Also, both of the top lines this year saw lots of work against really good players. Monahan had to play the top line every night until Backlund got back, and since then they've split that duty. Sven has very little defensive prowess and would have been a liability.
Finally, Sven's slug linemates included a guy who previously scored fairly consistently in the NHL (who maybe could complain that he was similarly stuck on the bottom line with Sven), a guy who consistently creates grade A offensive chances (without a lot of finish, especially on breakaways), and Lance Bouma. Other than Bollig, no real slugs.
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