Larry Brooks

Larry Brooks

NHL

With Rangers healthy, time to see what they’re made of

The Rangers have been exactly the mediocre outfit the 10-10 record they bring into Tuesday night’s game at the Garden against the Bruins connotes.

But now, for the first time since the squad gathered for the opening meeting of training camp, they and everyone else will get the chance to determine who they are and what they can be with an essentially full complement of players on hand.

“Nobody is more curious than the players,” Brad Richards told The Post on Tuesday morning after Rick Nash declared himself good to go against Boston. “We’ve started to see more of what our team is about over the last 10 games.

“It feels like we’re building toward something.”

Taylor Pyatt is still down with a concussion, but for the first time this season and thus for the first time with Alain Vigneault behind the bench, the Rangers had all of their offensive weapons in good health and in the lineup.

Ryan Callahan missed the opener recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, played five games, and then was sidelined for the following seven matches with a broken thumb. Carl Hagelin spent the first 10 games on LTI rehabbing his surgically repaired shoulder. Chris Kreider began in Hartford. And Nash, of course, missed 17 games after sustaining a concussion on Brad Stuart’s headshot during the first period of Game 3 in San Jose.

“It’s a good feeling to know we have our guys, but just being healthy doesn’t guarantee anything at all,” Richards said. “You just have to look at Ottawa last season and how they actually played better when so many of their top guys were out to recognize that.

“We certainly can’t make the mistake of thinking that Rick is going to change everything for us. We all know what kind of an impact he can have in a game and for our team, but hockey isn’t about one guy.

“It’s about having depth and being able to sustain an attack rolling lines.”

The Rangers entered against the Bruins averaging 2.1 goals per game, tied with the Devils for the fourth-most feeble output in the NHL, better than only Buffalo (1.73), Philadelphia (1.84) and Carolina (1.86). They have scored two goals or fewer in 12 of their 20 matches, producing one goal over the weekend in splitting 1-0 decisions in Montreal on Saturday and at the Garden on Sunday against the Kings.

Imagine what they would be like if they hadn’t hired an offense-minded coach in Vigneault.

But now at least there will be no need to imagine what the team can be with Nash, the team’s singular weapon of mass production and the lone Ranger capable of scoring consistently on his own, added to the mix.

“Rick coming back certainly should give us a boost, but we still have to look after ourselves,” Brian Boyle said. “We’re all happy for Rick that he’s recovered — you feel for a guy who has to go through that — but you still have to assess yourself and prepare the same way you do every night, regardless of who’s in and who’s out.”

The Bruins are the team in the East to which the Rangers must measure up in order to succeed. They have the diversified roster against which GM Glen Sather must measure his club’s personnel. They are an obstacle the Blueshirts couldn’t surmount last spring and they were the opponent who broke Vigneault’s heart in 2011 in the seven-game Stanely Cup Finals victory over the Canucks.

“You don’t need to have played for the Rangers to have a dislike for Boston,” the former Vancouver coach said. “I have that on my own.”

The Rangers were 3-7 over the shambles of their first 10 games and 7-3 through a stabilizing following 10 matches. Now, this next complement of 10 should go further in defining this group’s capability.

“I think we’ve gotten a little closer to where we want to be, but I don’t think we’re close to where we’re going to need to be in April and May,” Richards said. “We’re catching up, but still and all we’re only .500, and that’s not what we’re looking for.”

There is much work to be done. It doesn’t appear as if the Rangers are strong enough or deep enough to pose a serious challenge for a championship, but now, at least and at last, we’ll get the chance to evaluate how good they are and what they might be able to accomplish.