John Tortorella, shown giving referee Eric Furlatt a piece of his mind from behind the New York Rangers’ bench this season, is a Stanley Cup-winning bench boss who could blow up on the Canucks – or blow up the Canucks. Photograph by: Justin K. Aller , Getty Images

VANCOUVER — If the Vancouver Canucks absolutely had to have as their coach any of the numerous candidates they’ve interviewed, chances are the National Hockey League team would have him hired by now.

Maybe it will soon.

General manager Mike Gillis had more than rule changes on his to-do list when he attended Wednesday’s National Hockey League meetings in Boston. TSN reported Tuesday the Canucks were down to a final four of coaching candidates – Lindy Ruff, John Tortorella, John Stevens and Scott Arniel — but none seems ideal.

After four weeks and probably a dozen interviews, the Canucks’ final four are the same as their starting five, minus Dallas Eakins, who went to the Edmonton Oilers.

The flaws of the remaining candidates vary. Ruff is a good coach but an uninspiring figure, the volatile Tortorella a Stanley Cup-winner who could blow up on the Canucks – or blow up the Canucks. Arniel’s only NHL head-coaching experience was a disappointing season-and-a-half in Columbus. Stevens, another low-key figure, spent the last three seasons as an assistant in Los Angeles after he was fired in Philadelphia slightly more than three years into his only NHL head-coaching gig.

Tortorella would be a provocative hire. But none of these coaches, in the absence of significant roster changes by Gillis, is likely to captivate the Vancouver market or instantly elevate the stature of a team that won five straight division titles under Alain Vigneault.

If you ask me — shockingly, Gillis isn’t — Stevens is the least imperfect. He is not the pushover some made him out to be with the Flyers, but nor is he volatile like Tortorella. He worked in Los Angeles under a couple of coaching elders with starkly different styles, Terry Murray and Darryl Sutter, and is probably going to be a better head coach the second time around.

But the Canucks are not the only team hiring. Just as the New York Rangers had to wait for Vigneault, who was also pursued by the Dallas Stars, the Canucks may have to wait for Stevens or Tortorella.

We know the feeling.

BLUESHIRTS AND GREEN: When Vigneault is officially introduced as the Rangers’ new coach — Friday morning, according to The New York Post – the 52-year-old’s $2 million annual salary will put him among the highest-paid in the NHL. But it’s not the salary that so impresses Vigneault’s coaching colleagues, but the term – five years.

It’s all about timing. Vigneault quickly became the preferred choice of both the wealthy Rangers and the Stars, under a new owner determined to return the Texas team to the top of the NHL.

Apparently, general managers like the Rangers’ Glen Sather and Stars’ Jim Nill view Vigneault as something far more than the overmatched dolt portrayed by some of his critics in Vancouver. Vigneault is, as he was, one of the best coaches in the NHL. His new job and paycheque reflect that.

NO DRAFT DO-OVERS: Milan Lucic is hard to miss. But, of course, the Canucks missed him in the 2006 draft.