The president of the Phoenix Coyotes believes his team can survive its current financial problems, as long as it improves its on-ice performance to get more Arizona fans to support the team.

"It's no secret that in sports, winning teams draw more fans than losing teams," Doug Moss told CTV's Canada AM on Wednesday morning in an interview from Phoenix.

Moss pointed to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the winners of the most recent Stanley Cup, as an example of a franchise that has suffered from financial problems, but has managed to come out on top.

"We saw Pittsburgh hoist the Stanley Cup on Friday night and that's a team that's been in bankruptcy twice," Moss said.

The Coyotes have not made the playoffs since the 2001-2002 NHL season, the year they placed sixth in the Western Conference at the end of the regular season.

The team has lost money since moving from Winnipeg to Phoenix for the start of the 1996-1997 season.

On Wednesday, Moss said that the recent efforts to present Phoenix as a troubled hockey market have been hard on Coyotes fans.

"I think that this is really a good market and I think the market has taken a beating, I think our fans have taken a beating and I think it's been unfair," Moss said.

"This is a market that is really good, it loves its sports, but there's no doubt that a winning team is going to draw more fans than a losing team and we need to do a better job on the ice."

Moss said he was grateful to Phoenix fans for supporting the team throughout the years, and pleased that a recent bankruptcy court decision will keep the team in Glendale, Ariz., for now.

"I'm happy for the fans, I'm happy for our partners, for the City of Glendale, that the Phoenix Coyotes will be staying right here in Glendale," he said.

The Phoenix Coyotes filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the start of last month, which prompted Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie to make a $212.5 million offer for the team.

But the major condition for Balisillie's offer is that the Coyotes move to Southern Ontario, a position that has plunged the BlackBerry businessman into a prolonged courtroom chess match with the NHL.

Since Balsillie announced his offer on May 5, he has seen the NHL launch a challenge against the Coyotes putting themselves into bankruptcy protection, and he has faced several problematic court decisions.

But Balsillie has continued to push forward, planning to bring the hockey club to Hamilton for the start of the 2009-1010 NHL season.

Most recently, U.S. bankruptcy Judge Redfield T. Baum rejected Balsillie's attempt to bring the team north for next year, saying that there was not enough time to resolve all of the outstanding issues before the proposed June 29 closing date for the sale.

Balsillie, in turn, has said that the judge's ruling is only the most recent step in the process and that he will continue "moving forward" with his relocation plans.

With files from The Canadian Press