New York Rangers Stock Market: An unexpected win streak

Up: Pavel Buchnevich

Coach David Quinn’s plan has worked: scratching Pavel Buchnevich lit a fire under the young forward.

Buchnevich is an incredibly gifted forward. Both his hockey vision and individual skills are enough to make him a star player in the league. After being plagued with injuries and dealing with poor coaching for the past few seasons, we’ve seen him deprived of the success he is capable of achieving.

However, Buchnevich also shares a part of the blame. At times, he seems as if he’s just coasting along the ice, seemingly unmotivated. Thus prompting David Quinn to scratch him for two games.

Quinn’s method of scratching players is that of negative reinforcement, and boy has it worked. Though Buchnevich has just one goal since his return from being scratched, he has looked like a man possessed, motivated does not begin to encompass Buchnevich’s play. He looks aggressive on the puck and hungry for goals.

During the final stock market of last season, I predicted that this would be a breakout year for Buchnevich, and I still stand by that.

A big part of the frustration between the Alain Vigneault/ Buchnevich rift was that Vigneault would not explain to the player why he was being benched or scratched. Quinn however, explains himself and what he can do to be better.

This coupled with scratchings makes a player hungry, and frankly, I think it’s wrong to believe otherwise, as it has worked on multiple players so far. Hopefully, Buchnevich is able to keep up this pace of hockey for the rest of the season.