"As NHL jobs go, it's a rather attractive one, even though it's likely just a temporary posting.

The Vancouver Canucks are in the market for a top-six forward to fill in for injured winger Alex Burrows. The successful candidate will either play alongside Daniel and Henrik Sedin on Vancouver's first line or ride shotgun with Ryan Kesler and Mason Raymond on the Canucks' No. 2 line.

So is there a prospect in the house?

No one that has really caught the eye of coach Alain Vigneault, who was hoping someone was going to make his job easy. More than halfway through the pre-season, Vigneault's still looking for someone to stake a claim to the job.

"Nobody has come out and grabbed it and said, 'Coach, I'm the guy,' who is going to go out there whether it be with the twins or whether it's moving [Mikael] Samuelsson with the twins and playing somebody else there [on the second line]," Vigneault said Monday. "Nobody has come out and grabbed it. There are three games in four nights [this week] and hopefully somebody is going to force our hand."

There is no shortage of candidates who came to camp hoping to land that spot. Jeff Tambellini, veteran Brendan Morrison, rookies Jordan Schroeder and Cody Hodgson and Russian Sergei Shirokov were all thought to have a chance to win the job.

That dream ended Monday for Schroeder, who was sent to Manitoba after a rather disappointing camp, and Shirokov hasn't helped his cause by showing up in less than ideal shape.

So it's now probably a three-man race. Vigneault has liked some of what he has seen of Tambellini and Morrison and hasn't seen enough of Hodgson to pass judgment on him.

Vigneault wasn't behind the bench for Saturday night's 4-1 win over Anaheim but watched the game on TV after attending a funeral back east. He thought Tambellini played well alongside the Sedins."