Flames fans are not going to abandon the team because a player leaves; they're going to abandon a team for consistent poor performance. We stuck around after Lanny and Theo left, and our attendance woes were due to extremely poor performance in the standings (and an unfavourable market at the time).
People will be Flames fans for life, and the return of a packed building after both lockouts and the multi-year waiting list for season tickets is a good indication of that.
I think Flames fans are holding out hope for a playoff berth a la 2004, but that is not likely to happen. King and Feaster keep tagging everyone along with their "this is our win now team" mantra, rather than being honest and saying we need to fix this from the core outwards. Flames fans will understand, we just don't like being lied to.
However, if this .500 performance continues, that base will (continue to) be eroded.
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