Upon his retirement Petit had played for a then-NHL record ten different teams,[1] a mark has since been surpassed by Mike Sillinger.

As a youth, Petit played in the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament four consecutive years from 1974 to 1977, with a minor ice hockey team from Pont-Rouge.

During his 17 seasons in the NHL he played for ten different NHL teams, which as of 2017 was tied along with J. J. Daigneault, Mathieu Schneider, Jim Dowd, Olli Jokinen and Lee Stempniak as the second-most by any player.

[6] Petit played for the Vancouver Canucks (1982–83 – 1987–88), New York Rangers (1987–88 – 1988–89), Quebec Nordiques (1989–90 – 1990–91), Toronto Maple Leafs (1990–91 – 1991–92), Calgary Flames (1992–93 – 1993–94), Los Angeles Kings (1994–95 – 1995–96), Tampa Bay Lightning (1995–96), Edmonton Oilers (1996–97), Philadelphia Flyers (1996–97), and Phoenix Coyotes (1997–98) (1998–99).

Currently, Petit resides in The Woodlands, Texas and is a sales manager for Smart Sand,[citation needed] working in Canada and the US.