Reversal for Rangers - Vigneault Puts Offense First, With a Dose of Humor - NYTimes.com Alain Vigneault, expected to be introduced as the next Rangers coach in the coming days, comes to New York as the antidote to John Tortorella. He arrives like a fresh breeze from the Pacific Northwest after seven mostly successful years as coach of the Vancouver Canucks. Going by his track record, Vigneault, 52, will stress offense and puck possession over forechecking, tolerate the mistakes of young players instead of bench them at the first missed assignment, and be a good communicator with his players instead of publicly insulting them. He will also bring a measure of good humor to a job that, under Tortorella, was marked by mercurial mood shifts and angry outbursts. Vigneault is well known for a 2012 episode in which he tried unsuccessfully to stifle his laughter behind the bench for more than a minute after Vernon Fiddler of the Dallas Stars did an on-ice imitation of Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa. All that is Vigneault's mission with the Rangers, but most of all it is to awaken the team's slumbering ability to score. On Sunday, Vigneault declined to comment on the Rangers job or on his experiences as coach of the Canucks and the Montreal Canadiens. But examining what he has done as a coach offers clues to what his approach with the Rangers may be, if and when he officially accepts the position. When it counted most, Tortorella could not find a way to ignite Rick Nash, who scored only one goal in 12 playoff games. He was one of several Rangers stars who slumped under Tortorella's leadership. Vigneault had a similar problem this lockout-shortened season, when his Canucks finished 19th in scoring during the regular season before being swept in the first round by the San Jose Sharks. But in the three previous seasons, Vigneault's teams finished fifth, first and second in scoring. The first-place mark, in 2010-11, coincided with the Canucks" trip to the Stanley Cup finals. Tortorella's Rangers were consistently mediocre on offense over the last four years, finishing 16th, 16th, 11th and 15th in goal scoring. Vigneault has become well known for using the Sedin twins in offensive zone starts more than any other players in the N.H.L., a key part of his up-tempo style with the Canucks. Yet surprisingly, he was not always a gung-ho attacking coach. In his first season as a head coach, with the Canadiens in 1997, he favored the neutral-zone trap. He was also a defense-first guy when he was promoted from coaching the Canucks" A.H.L. farm club to the top job in 2006. "That's one of the things that you admire about Alain, the way he adapts, and the way the players got better under his tutelage," said John Garrett, a former Vancouver goalie and now a hockey analyst in Western Canada. He can adapt to just about any style the talent of the team dictates. The Canucks roster Vigneault inherited was built largely around Roberto Luongo - much as the Rangers are built around Henrik Lundqvist. Vigneault made those Canucks play a tight defensive system until players who had developed under his coaching in the A.H.L. came up and progressed with him. "Kevin Bieksa, Alex Burrows, Ryan Kesler, Alex Edler, they all got better under Alain, and Henrik and Daniel Sedin really started to come into their own and become the stars that they are today," Garrett said. That core stayed intact, and under Vigneault, the Canucks won back-to-back Presidents" Trophies in 2011 and 2012. No one can predict whether that success will carry over to the Rangers. After all, Tortorella won the Stanley Cup in Tampa Bay with an up-tempo philosophy led by the scoring stars Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis - something that never translated to Tortorella's Rangers. But the high point totals logged by defensemen Christian Ehrhoff and Bieksa under Vigneault must be encouraging for Ryan McDonagh, Dan Girardi and the other Rangers defensemen whose scoring potential remains largely untapped. And Vigneault's sensitive and considerate public handling of the Luongo contract situation, in which a 12-year deal has kept him essentially stuck in Vancouver, must resonate with Rangers players - particularly with Carl Hagelin, who Tortorella said "stinks on the power play" last month. In the end, Vigneault was the obvious choice for General Manager Glen Sather, and the right one. Sather also interviewed Mark Messier, but there is good reason to believe that was largely a cosmetic exercise. It is not likely that Messier was ever under serious consideration for the coaching job, despite his status as a Rangers hero of 1994. Messier has no coaching experience at the N.H.L., A.H.L., major junior or university level.