I never said the Rangers were alone in throwing too much money at players. But they threw the most too much money at more players than anybody else. They were the first NHL team to get their salary over the NFL cap, which with half the players and 1/3 the revenue is nothing but dumb, and they haven't made the playoffs since they got their salary higher than their neighbors the Giants either, which is funny in my book.
Arbitration can't blow salaries out of whack unless you have some teams already paying too much. All arbitrators do is say "well given how these other players with similar stats are getting paid this guy should get paid more", if those other players aren't getting over paid by teams like the Rangers and Wing arbitrators don't have examples to use to drive up everybody's salaries.
Agreed, and the most egregious example of that was the signing of Bobby Holik for $9M/per over five years. Now, Holik's a good two-way player and a great agitator, but in reality, is nothing more than an exceptional third line center. The Rangers had been financially irresponsible before, but the Holik deal was unprecedented, even by their standards.