Ottawa finished even with Detroit in the standings that year, had loads of young talent and were trending up (though major injuries to Karlsson and Spezza took their tolls on them the next season)
Things weren't looking bush league when he left (aside from a loonie owner). We the reigning coach of the year too. If he couldn't win in Ottawa, there was no reason to think his chances were any better in Detroit, who was trending downwards.
The narrative makes no sense. You don't leave one team because you can't win to go to another team trending the wrong direction that wasn't demontrably better in the first place. Besides, the implication was that winning was important, if that's why he left ottawa, but he had a significantly better team trying to land him in Boston who he turned down.
It's highly unlikely his decision to leave had anything to do with being able to win in Ottawa. the facts don't add up.
I don't know, this was fresh off his "probably not" response when asked about coming back against the Penguins. An Ottawa team that beat the odds and upset the Habs, but seemed content with that.
Ownership was certainly a factor and likely the major factor, but at the same time, he said that Zetterberg had reached out to him, and perhaps the idea of playing for that veteran-laden team was more appealing than continuing to mentor the rather young team he possessed in 2012-2013.
They also had a truck load of Swedes at the time, Franzen, Zetterberg, Ericsson, Andersson, Kronwall, Samuelsson and Nyquist.
My understanding of the situation, rightly or wrongly, was that the opening only existed because Ottawa's management dropped the ball, but once the opportunity became available, it became something he wanted to try.
As for Boston, there could be any number of reasons why he didn't chose them, from Chara being the Captain to the style of play or the coach.
I do think Alfredsson thought his chances for winning the Cup were better in Detroit than in Ottawa, given that there were already some guys there with Cup rings and the franchise had a (fading) track record for competitiveness.
At the time, it was thought that Ottawa's competitive window was still a ways away, waiting for guys like Karlsson, Zibanejad, Silfverberg, Stone and Cowen to further develop.