Sens home game turnout nosedives to worst level in 20 years

Three months into thecurrent National Hockey League season, the Ottawa Senators arestruggling with a precipitous drop in attendance that has seenfan turnout fall to theworst levelin 20 years, despite the team's winning record.

• Analysis: Possible reasons why Senators attendance isdown

The Senators are drawing an average of 15,897 fans to their home games.

TheSenators have now played 22 of their 41 home gamesthis season and they are drawing an average of 15,897 fans, according to the Senators and NHL data site hockeyDB.com.

Lowest attendance since 1996-97

The last time attendance was this low was the 1996-97 season when the average per game was 15,377. That year marked the Senators' first full season at what is now the Canadian Tire Centre.

The current attendance numbers mark a drop of about 4,000 tickets per game on average from the all-time high of 19,821 recorded over the course of the 2007-08 season (before renovations in 2015 reduced the number of seats at the CTC).

That was the season that followedthe team'strip to the Stanley Cup finals, a series they lost four games to one to the Anaheim Ducks.

Trailing the league

Of the National Hockey League's 30 teams, the Senators currently rank 23rd in attendance. They rank last among the seven Canadian teams.

From the beginning of the season there were signs enthusiasm at the gate was waning. The Senators failedto sell out their first two home games against perennial draws Toronto and Montreal.

The Senators' last three games since Christmas drewamong the biggest crowds of the season. Among them, the contests against the Detroit Red Wings on Dec. 29 and Washington Capitals on Jan. 7 yieldedthe only two sellouts of the season.

However, the uptick will have to be sustained if the average attendance is to approach recent seasons.