Alex Kerfoot shares his unfiltered thoughts on the Leafs.

It is no secret that playing hockey for the Toronto Maple Leafs can be something of a unique challenge. The Maple Leafs have one of the most passionate fan bases in all of North American pro sports and with that passion can come intense pressure to perform on the ice on a night in and night out basis.

It certainly isn't for everyone and for some players it can be overwhelming, but that doesn't appear to be the case for now former Toronto Maple Leaf Alex Kerfoot.

Kerfoot recently signed a new deal with the Arizona Coyotes and made himself available to the media following that signing. As you might expect, the topic of his tenure in Toronto was one of the subjects brought up during that availability and much to the credit of Kerfoot his comments about his time in Toronto were extremely classy.

In fact, Kerfoot would even go so far as to indicate that he understood why he wasn't brought back with the organization needing some changes.

"I loved my time in Toronto," admitted the Vancouver, B.C. native. "I have nothing but good things to say about the organization. When you go through periods of maybe not reaching the level of success that you want, then the organization needs to do different things."

"In my mind, I wanted to still have conversations. I have a lot of respect for a lot of people in that organization, but things don't always work out & with that comes new opportunities & maybe better opportunities for me. I'm looking forward to this new chapter."

Kerfoot's time in Toronto also helped him earn his new deal which will pay him an average annual value of $3.5 million over the next two seasons.