I feel like one of the problems that the Leafs have is that there hasn't been any pressure from the fan base to improve the team from an attendance point of view. One of the reasons that the Canucks decided to overhaul the team this year was because there were a lot of empty seats at Rogers Arena by the end of last season (because the team sucked, and nobody was willing to pay to go to a game), and the ownership didn't like that, because empty seats means they're not making money.
Leafs fans, however, are so loyal to their team (or just plain stupid) that they're willing to spend exorbitant amounts of money to go watch a crappy team attempt to play hockey. Like, you could pretty much dress a bunch of baboons in Leafs sweaters and throw them out on the ice, and they'd sell out the building. The point is, MLSE is still making their money because there's always a butt in every seat, even though the organization has been putting a crappy product on the ice for almost 50 years.