So what happened between 1997 and 2017 then when yearly attendance was over 16,000/game?
A historical graph of the yearly attendance for the Ottawa Senators [NHL, 1992-2024] of the National Hockey League.
www.hockeydb.com
Were (16,000 +) fans assured they would witness a win then? I guess so according to the "bad fan" mantra/narrative.
The Senators have always had a strong walk-up market for buying tickets. So, winning sure helps, not only in Ottawa, but in many/most markets. Look at Panthers as an example. But, its pretty counter intuitive to think that they were 16,000 (or nearly 16,000) fans just walking up and purchasing tickets over a 42 game season for ten years and thinking that almost all of the fans were certain that Ottawa would win all of those games.
BTW - not sure what you said in your 1st & last sentences.