Just to be clear I'm not a major proponent of a enforcers/ physical style vs a skill style. My ideal team would be close to the 96-97 team that won the cup. A nice mix of both. With that said people typically watch a team for one of two reasons 1. The team is a contender/ winner (fans are willing to put up with a more boring style if they are winning) or 2. The team is entertaining.
So if the Wings aren't going to win and need to rebuild they need to put a more entertaining group on the ice if they want to maintain the current level of fan base.
On this team only Datsyuk, Helm, and Tootoo are consistently entertaining players. Zetterberg and Kronwall can create moments of major excitement but aren't as consistent as the above. Brunner may get there but right now he is still feeling out this game.
Our bottom 6 is boring to watch outside of Tootoo and Helm. Only Tootoo will really fight. Eaves won't anymore thanks to the concussion and Abs just shouldn't because he is awful. They also aren't super physical either, especially if not paired with the above two. None of them (outside of Cleary this year) are bad players but they don't really excel at anything. Miller, Cleary, Eaves, Emmerton, Abdelkader, etc simply kill time. On occasion they can create a pressure cycle but this is pretty rare and again relies on Helm or Tootoo starting it. So if you figure that 20 minutes a game that nothing really exciting is happening, then that's a major issue regarding an overall enjoyment factor of the game. This issue is further enhanced if you team isn't winning.
Then you look at our top 6. Z and Dats are legit top 3 players. Superstars and thus are generally quite exciting. They are good enough to make the other players around them better, but they are getting older. This year I think they still have enough to carry their lines but in a season or two if health catches up with them we are left with Franzen, Flip, Sammy, Bert, Brunner. All of them are streaky players. They have one or two really exciting games and then go blah for 5 games. Now if you have a prime Dats or Z to prop those players up it isn't a big deal, as long as they at least take turns with their blah games. But without prime superstars to prop those guys up they get really boring to watch really fast. Now with that said Franzen, Flip, and Brunner can all step up their game to higher levels. I mean Franzen in beast mode is more entertaining than most but that has been a rare occurence. Flip and Brunner have both had moments of that pull you out of your seat skill but it can't be once every 10 games if you expect people to pay to see them. They Wings are going to need guys like Nyquist, Tatar, Jarnkrok, and Jurco to hit and be exciting if they want to maintain attendance numbers.
People can handle bad play or mistakes if they are rookies and/or a player is improving. Having vets that aren't going to get better making those mistakes is an issue. Fans will put up with if for awhile, but not for years.
