Roberto Luongo trade rumors: With Dave Nonis in, Brian Burke out, will he end up in Toronto?

This all seems very, very familiar. Brian Burke has been fired as the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and his good friend and former deputy Dave Nonis will replace him.

This exact same scenario played out in 2004 with the Vancouver Canucks when Nonis replaced the fired Burke. The two even had the exact same titles: Burke the president and general manager, Nonis the senior VP and director of hockey operations.

And one of Nonis' first major moves as general manager in Vancouver? Trading for goaltender Roberto Luongo.

That's obviously been the big rumor in Toronto since the end of the 2011-12 season: Will Luongo's come to town? When asked about the potential of a trade between the Canucks and Leafs for the goaltender, MLSE president Tom Anselmi was non-committal, although he did say the firing of Burke had nothing to do with a potential Luongo trade.

"We never discuss pending transactions," Anselmi said. "First of all, it doesn't help get a deal done. Secondly, we're not permitted to do so."

Notice he didn't say that the interest isn't there, though. By all accounts, Vancouver isn't prepared to give away Luongo for nothing, so Toronto or any other team interested is going to have to give something to get something here. Will Nonis attempt to repeat another piece of history? Time will tell.