Are the New York Rangers for real' Or are they as genuine as that Rolex you can buy for $20 on a Times Square street corner'The answer is: it depends.This much has become evident about the NHL in 2016-17there are no great teams. The Detroit Red Wings of 1995-96 are in no danger of having their all-time victory record for an 82-game season (62) eclipsed by this crop of teams. In a large measure, that's a compliment to the NHL of today.The salary cap, though it has killed the buzz for trade-deadline day and practically ended dynasties, has created a more socialistic league. The wealth is distributed equally, and we have parity as a result. Everybody has a shot, though some more than others.The Rangers look like a team that can win in the more spread-the-wealth league of today. Nobody is that much better than anyone else.For a while, however, it looked as if the Rangers might run away and hide from the rest. But the pack in the Eastern Conference is more jumbled up close to the top than it was earlier.The Rangers were 4-5-1 in the previous 10 games entering Thursday's matchup with the Winnipeg Jets, so the chatter has simmered down some from Madison Square Garden of late about this team.Still, the numbers remain gaudy. New York had 97 goals for, 69 against entering Thursday. That plus-28 goal differential was the widest of any team in the league. They have 14 players in double-figure scoring already. That's an amazing statistic for any NHL team now; that doesn't happen for most teams in a full season.But can it last' Even the most partisan Rangers fans seem to be unsure at the moment. An informal sampling of the fan base on Twitter recently seemed to register a "We don't really know" consensus.Sure, any team with Henrik Lundqvist in goal is capable of anything in the short term. But no team is able to win it all in a short-term scenario. It takes four rounds, 16 victories, to win it.Here's a deeper look into reasons into whether the Rangers have what it takes to win their first Stanley Cup since 1994. Reasons ForHenrik LundqvistHe's getting older, yes, but Lundqvist has never played on a team with this much offensive supportat least not to this point. The Rangers scored 97 goals in the first 27 games, an average of 3.6 per. The Dallas Stars led the league in scoring last season, with 267 goals in 82 games (3.25 per).If the Rangers can score at that kind of pace, Lundqvist can win a Cup. The 34-year-old should get better as the games get bigger, so anything near that kind of offensive support and the Rangers could be dominant.Offensive depthThe Rangers had 14 players in double-figure scoring entering Thursday. All four lines have produced, and even the defense has helped. Nick Holden, for instance, had 12 points in his first 22 games; he had 22 points in 82 games for the Colorado Avalanche last season.Any team that can get scoring from any of the four lines, plus some help from the back end, has a chance in today's NHL.Hustle and gritEven one of the Rangers' toughest critics over the years, the New York Post's Larry Brooks, had some highly complimentary reasons as to why the Rangers could be a Cup threat this season.In a column last month headlined "Speed, Smarts and Hustle: Why the Rangers are for Real," Brooks wrote:Speed, depth and smart decision-making with the puck all have been contributing factors to the getaway. But the most stark difference this time around is in the collective work ethic, evidence of which can be seen every night with forwards busting it back through the neutral and defensive zones following turnovers.Indeed, the Rangers are not only getting lots of fancy play from their top guys, they are getting them to work at the other end of the ice, too. The forwards seem to want to help out their defensemen teammates. That's the biggest sign of a real team in hockey, when everybody wants to make the other player look better, no matter the roles.Reasons AgainstToo many shots againstThe Rangers allowed an average of 29.8 shots against through the first 27 games. Sixteen teams allowed more, so it isn't a glaring number.But the Rangers averaged only 28.6 shots for in that span. If you want to win a Stanley Cup, it's much easier to do so getting more shots than the opposition night after night.The Rangers have gotten a favorable shooting percentage so far, but as colleague Jonathan Willis pointed outin a recent column, that is probably unsustainable in the long term.I asked former NHL player and current TSN analyst Chris O'Sullivan whether he thought the Rangers were a true threat to win a Cup if all things stay equal, and he said no."[I] don't think they can produce at the same clip all year and haven't in their last 10 games," O'Sullivan said. "I think their D core will slow down as well as the year goes along."I'm not the biggest analytics guy, but if something is really extreme one way or another, it definitely means something is going really right or really wrong."They are third-worst in shot attempt differential, which plays into the overachieving shooting-percentage situation of their top guys. Their leading scorer is 44th in the league."[Their] X-factor, as it always is with them, is their goalie, who I believe is still an elite goalie, especially when the chips are down. His playoff numbers speak for themselves."Center issuesIndeed, as O'Sullivan mentioned, there are worries at centerand that was before No. 1 pivot Mika Zibanejad went down with a lower-body injury last month, which should keep him sidelined at least two or three more weeks.As it stands, the Rangers have Derek Stepan, Kevin Hayes and Brandon Pirri as the top three at center. It's just really tough to win a Stanley Cup without an elite No. 1 center, and even with Zibanejad, it was questionable whether the Rangers really had that. Without him, the Blueshirts have started to get exposed.The Rangers look to be a playoff team already, so that's half the battle in today's NHL. But to win a Cup' They probably need to make a trade for even more help; whether that is to the top-6 up front, especially at center, or to the top-4 on defense, that is the question up for debate.The Rangers seem to have enough offensive depth to offer something in trade for more help on the back end. It doesn't seem that way in reverse, though.Given that reality, it says here that in order for the Rangers to have any real chance at a Cup, they need to figure out a way to get more help on the blue line.So our next column on this team might be headlined: "Who is the final defensive piece in turning the New York Rangers into a serious Cup contender'"Adrian Dater covers the NHL for Bleacher Report
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