Hartford's arena only seated a little over 15K, so for the (many) games that fans would have bought 18, 19, 20K tickets, they couldn't. The attendance figures are meaningless -- apples to orange juice. It's the same for Quebec and Winnipeg -- small arenas that would have packed in a lot more fans for a lot more games than they could actually hold, thus depressing the average.
If Hartford had a team as good as the Preds with a nice, new building that seated 20,000 fans, in 2006-07, their attendance would be 17,500+, easy. If they had Carolina's team (which plainly should still be theirs), coming off a Cup win, they'd be sold out almost every game and any player on the team could be elected mayor.
And their TV ratings would be a lot higher, and their general appeal would be greater, since it would be a team in hockey country, not NASCAR and fiddlin' country.
You can understand why Preds fans would try, but comparing Hartford, which would now be in its 35th year as a well-supported hockey market, to Nashville, limping badly in its 8th year, is pointless and silly.