There are two issues that haven't been mentioned.
One, Eugene Melnyk has been publicly discussing how the proposed new arena just outside of downtown Ottawa is badly needed. As usual with the NHL, they don't mind denigrating their product in order for a long term benefit. When you have the owner of the team complaining about the current arena, why would fans want to spend significant money somewhere that even the owner doesn't like?
Two, Melnyk might be staging these attendance "issues" as leverage for a better deal with the proposed new rink. The playoff tickets that didn't sell this past spring were mostly the cheap seats and I've heard that they weren't available until something like the actual day of the game. People have tried to contact the Senators for season tickets and it has taken over a week for anyone to get back to them. He's also jacked up parking to $20 when it was only $11 a year or two ago.
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