Brian Burke reveals details on failed Luongo trade to Maple Leafs

Brian Burke has never been shy about speaking his mind and giving his honest opinion on all things related to hockey. The former GM held a Q&A on Twitter last week and revealed the Toronto Maple Leafs nearly made a blockbuster deal to acquire Roberto Luongo from the Vancouver Canucks in 2013 right before Burke was fired by the Leafs that summer.

Burke said that the asking price of then Vancouver GM Mike Gillis was too steep, even though Luongo was only two years removed from taking the Canucks to game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. The asking price for Luongo, according to Burke was Jake Gardiner, Nazem Kadri and two 1st round picks. That would have been a kings ransom in 2013, Gardiner was only 23 at the time and Kadri 22. The two 1st round picks turned into Frederik Gauthier(2013) and William Nylander(2014). Vancouver had two elite goalies at the time, with the emergence of Cory Schneider. 

The Canucks did end up moving Schneider that year at the 2013 draft for New Jersey's 1st round pick. Vancouver used the pick to draft current captain Bo Horvat. The following year the Canucks dealt Luongo to the Florida Panthers for Jacob Markstrom and Shawn Matthias. The Maple Leafs held onto Gardiner and Kadri until the end of the 2018-19 season, when they traded Kadri and let Gardiner walk as a UFA. This trade may have altered the path these two teams ultimately went down, could the Canucks have returned to the finals if this trade went through?