Had an interesting discussion last night with a league source. I was told that DOPS is trying to send a warning to Calgary forward Matthew Tkachuk that he's on a very slippery slope with them already in his career.
The source said, "It would be nice if he got the message and DOPS didn't have to review anything with him again for a long time.... but the suspicion is that he hasn't had his last hearing. Now that he's a two-time suspended player in a short period of time, his repeat offender status is going to work against him if and when there are more serious infractions to review."
It's already pretty clear that Tkachuk is not just a player who is rapidly becoming one of the NHL's most hated players among opponents... which isn't necessarily a bad thing, as Brad Marchand or Claude Lemieux could attest.... but he's also gotten in the crosshairs of the refs and now the league office. That's never a good thing.
Tkachuk's two suspensions this year for deliberate (but relatively mild) stick contact either from the bench to a player on the ice or from the ice to an opposing player on the bench are very much designed to make clear to him that he's being watched closely. Since I don't think he's going to change a thing about the way he goes about getting under opponents' skin, it will be quite interesting to see how much reputation starts to play in to his PIMs and league response to controversies that involve him.