All these things were true. But they also had a benefit from that point forward until the cap was introduced. They had the resources to outspend many.
This article only mentions a db established in 2000. Cap went in 05-06. It's also mentions:
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/401569-new-york-rangers-led-nhl-in-total-payroll-once-again-in-200910
There's a bunch of numbers, highest salaries on the team in between these quotes by the year. I didn't want to cut and paste the whole article, but there's some depressing reminders in there.