Part of what made him good prior to last season is his ability to work his butt off and then draw penalties.
With some of the notoriety and antics he's entangled himself in, the refs have turned the tables. Not only are refs not wanting to be calling penalties committed on Tkachuk, feeling maybe duped from prior years, he's now getting zero leeway and penalties like the one against the Oilers are getting called.
That has to be in his head, and affecting the way he's used to approaching and playing the game since he got to the NHL. Mix in his short fuse and in addition to the refs "figuring him out" the other teams seem to have too, to get him off his game.
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