Mark Messier recently interviewed for New York’s vacant head coaching job. (REUTERS)
The Rangers have zoned in on Alain Vigneault as their next coach, a well-placed league source told The Post Friday night.
Vigneault, who brought the Canucks within one victory of the Stanley Cup in 2011, is believed to have met with Garden owner Jim Dolan yesterday, even as Mark Messier confirmed his candidacy to succeed John Tortorella behind the Blueshirts’ bench.
The Blueshirts had not yet presented an offer to Vigneault, who impressed president/general manager Glen Sather in their meeting on Tuesday at La Quinta, Calif., as The Post reported.
But a contract proposal is expected to be forthcoming, what with Vigneault last night withdrawing his candidacy to coach the Stars, who had been keenly interested in hiring him.
Vigneault, 52, has 11 years of experience behind an NHL bench, the last seven with Vancouver after three-plus seasons in Montreal. The Canucks, who were beaten in the 2011 Final in seven games by the Bruins, won the President’s Trophy in 2010-11 and 2011-12.
He was dismissed last month following the club’s second consecutive first-round playoff defeat. Tortorella is among the candidates to replace Vigneault in Vancouver.
Meanwhile, 19 years to the day after hoisting the Cup at the Garden as the Rangers captain in the flush of the club’s one and only championship in the last 73 years, Messier confirmed he had talked to Sather this week about the head coaching position.
“I told Glen I would have interest, so we’ve had discussions and that’s where it stands right now,” Messier told NHL.com yesterday while in Chicago to present the Mark Messier Leadership Award to Ottawa’s Daniel Alfredsson. “Like anyone else interested in coaching, obviously the Rangers would be a dream come true.”
The Rangers also received the Kings’ approval to speak with assistant coach John Stevens, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Stevens, who was head coach of the Flyers for three-plus seasons before being replaced by Peter Laviolette 25 games into the 2009-10 season, is given a great deal of credit for the Kings’ 2012 Stanley Cup victory as Darryl Sutter’s top aide.
He would have been regarded as a long shot, though the Rangers might have been interested in gauging whether Stevens would have interest in becoming an associate coach were Messier hired to run the show.
The Post reported yesterday Brian Leetch would join the Rangers’ staff as an assistant if Messier is hired.
“All I can say is that I have interest in the job,” said Messier, who was head coach of Team Canada for the 2010 Deutschland Cup and the 2010 Spengler Cup international tournaments. “I’ve interviewed with Glen, and we’ll see what happens.”
Sather did take Messier’s candidacy seriously, but as of last night, the Rangers appeared to be have chosen experience rather than a neophyte in the club’s quest for a championship 20 years after the last one.
larry.brooks@nypost.com