Ottawa has terrific revenues and survived the worst owner in sports. Rink in the middle of no where and still averaging over 17,000 a game doesnt seem like you're very well versed in general.
Pre season games of other teams? Who cares. Your office pool? Who cares these arent real barometers.
This is a strong logical post.
Preseason games do matter especially given one is a very popular team amongst the hockey fans that still care about the NHL here (bruins) and the other is the cup champ. And that they used to sell much better 10-15 years ago (which coincides with peak remparts attendance).
Ottawa has been bottom of the league in revenues lately, marginally better than Phoenix. And they're bottom quarter/tier for valuation. What the new ownership will bring, along with the new arena, will likely be positive (hard to do worse). Jets are bottom 5.
The work pool is anecdotal but I do think it shows the je m'en foutisme amongst the population in general right now. The enthusiasm about an NHL return is probably under 10% now judging by how it was at around 15% circa 2018.
The economy is also terrible (canadian economy + housing + lowest average salary of all nhl cities if they were to join), and I mentionned in a previous thread that a potential return would most likely require the government using taxpayers' money to make it happen since nobody seems willing to drop the money it'd likely require. Good luck with the social acceptance
Keep in mind that you are comparing to potentially more lucrative markets. Not just compared to "nothing" or to a previous location.