Phil Kessel addresses his time in the Arizona Coyotes organization.

From the outside looking in it appears as though the Arizona Coyotes have largely been a dysfunctional organization for the better part of their tenure in the National Hockey League. The team has often changed hands in terms of ownership, has been bailed out by the league itself, and most recently has been forced to move their home games to a much smaller arena than what you would expect for an NHL franchise.

While it can be easy to poke fun at the expense of the Coyotes, the experience has to be particularly difficult for the players that find themselves playing for such an organization. That was recently confirmed by now former Arizona Coyotes forward Phil Kessel who recently shared his unfiltered thoughts on his time with the Coyotes.

Earlier this week, Kessel was being introduced as the newest member of the Golden Knights after signing a new 1 year deal that carries an average annual value and cap hit of $1.5 million when the topic of his former team came up.

"I'm very excited," said Kessel of joining the Golden Knights. "Obviously I think over the last couple of years you get lost here and peopole don't view you anymore like you used to be viewed. I don't think that's the case and I'm very motivated to come in here and help this team and try to contend. Like I said I'm very motivated and I think I'm going to have a great year."

Kessel, who did see a decline in his production during his time with the Coyotes, was asked about maintaining his motivation on a team that was going through significant turmoil. Kessel didn't hold back in his response, indicating that he felt he had been misled about the overall direction of the team.

"It's tough," admitted Kessel. "I came in there and it was a different direction. They said 'We're gonna win and we're gonna try to win and compete' and obviously that's not what happened."

Kessel's most damning statement may have come when he directly implied that the Coyotes weren't even trying to win games while he was there.

"It's gonna be nice playing on a team that wants to win," said Kessel. "You know when you wanna win and everyone on the team wants to win it's a different feeling and a different vibe."

To be clear Kessel's comments did not appear to be a criticism of his former teammates, but rather of the direction of the organization as a whole.

"Arizona had great guys," clarified Kessel, "all the players are great kids and a lot of good people there. But when you don't wanna necessarily win and contend it becomes difficult as a player, especially when you came from Pittsburgh and I wanted to win."

Kessel shared his thoughts on the Coyotes and much more during a lengthy media availability where he fielded several questions, you can listen to the full interview with Kessel in the short video below.