I think we've kind of got it on this subject.
Teams that make a lot of money have a better of chance of being successful. This allows them to make more money which leads to more success.
Teams that make less money have to work harder, be smarter, and be a little lucky.
And spending money has a significant effect on whether you make the playoffs, but the playoffs are too much of a crapshoot for anything to effect the outcomes there.
And yes, the Internet needs editors, the teams that missed the playoffs were excluded from the table - I'm guessing that the Rangers were 2nd in average payroll.