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.

Not so long ago, Tomas Kaberle was the only bright light during increasingly dark times in Toronto.

With the Leafs attempting to rebuild, Kaberle's name was linked in just about every trade rumour imaginable. Finally, after what seemed like years of endless rumours, Kaberle was dealt to the Boston Bruins for Joe Colborne, a first-round pick, and a conditional second-round pick, which eventually went to Toronto after Boston won the 2011 Stanley Cup.

However, Kaberle has been involved in trade talks long before Brian Burke struggled to bring respectability back to Toronto. Here are five major trades that would have seen Tomas Kaberle packing his bags and the history of the Toronto Maple Leafs change dramatically.

After the lockout, fans and management alike were quick to congratulate the game for ridding itself of clutching and grabbing and creating a much more exciting product on the ice. Goal scoring was up and teams could no longer sit on a lead in the third period, otherwise they would quickly find themselves on the losing end of the scoreboard.

Flash-forward to the present day and most people agree that the league is as strong as it has ever been.

People generally acknowledge that an increase in goal-scoring is the cause of the league’s revival, but the numbers actually paint a different story.