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The Brian Burke-Kevin Lowe war of words that tipped off with Lowe signing away Dustin Penner from Burke’s Anaheim Ducks four years ago nearly escalated into a full-scale fist fight.In 2007, Lowe, of the Edmonton Oilers, signed Penner, a restricted free agent, to a five-year, US$21.25-million offer sheet that the Ducks could have matched. They declined and Penner was off to Edmonton, but the signing triggered a series of verbal battles between Lowe and Burke.

On Friday, The Score posted an interview with Burke — now GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs — talking about the drawn-out battle.

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“(It) got to the point where Kevin challenged me to a fight on a radio interview,” Burke says in the interview. “So I’m like, that’s not really how you challenge a guy to a fight. If you wanna challenge a guy to a fight, you pick a place and a time and you show up. So I called Glen Sather and I say look, this guy went on the radio and challenged me to a fight. I said, I’m gonna be at Lake Placid at the U.S. junior camp. I gave him three dates. I told him I’d rent a barn. I picked the address and the time and I’d fight Kevin Lowe.”

“Dead serious.”

Burke goes on to say that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman caught word of the impending brawl and told Burke if he went ahead, the league would suspend him and Lowe indefinitely.