Brian Burke's five-year rebuild that wasn't supposed to take five years is taking longer than expected.

The last time the Toronto Maple Leafs rebuilt, it was quick and almost painless. The team missed the playoffs only twice—in 1997 and 1998—but would become a post-season mainstay for the next six years.

But that mid-90s rebuild did not happen in one fell swoop—the three biggest trades actually occurred over a five-year period—and could be better characterized as a slow core replacement, rather than a fire-sale.

After bowing out of back-to-back conference finals, the Leafs began a process of turning their three most important players—Doug Gilmour, Wendel Clark, and Felix Potvin—into what should have been a strong group to build around in the future.

In Wendel Clark's case the return was overwhelming, but the players that came back in other trades were bungled away.

The Leafs still became a perennial contender in the late-90s and early-2000s, largely thanks to successful plunges into free agency, but poor asset management and pure, dumb luck ruined the rest of what should have been an overwhelmingly successful rebuild.

Well, that was quick. Kris Vertseeg didn’t even manage to last a full season in Toronto. The Leafs shipped him off to the Philadelphia Flyers (who are scary, scary good) for a first and third round pick. Unfortunately, considering the Flyers are so good these might as well be second and fourth round picks.

If you look at this trade as Viktor Stalberg, Phillipe Paradis, and Chris DiDomenico for a first and third round pick it looks pretty good. But that wasn’t the trade. Even I – an eternal Leaf defender – cannot look at it that way.

Burke stated that he traded Kris Versteeg to fix a mistake. Apparently, Kris Versteeg did not fit in Toronto. This is perplexing for multiple reasons.