Boston Bruins goaltender reveals how he almost became a Maple Leaf

Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman seems to have the number of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Funny enough, he was almost a Leaf himself.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are 0-5 this season (including the playoffs) against Swayman. The young netminder has given up just 7 goals in those five games, stopping 156 of 163 shots he has faced. In 6 career regular season games against the Leafs, he is 4-2-0 with a .917 save percentage and 2.60 GAA. Imagine if the Leafs had drafted him with the 110th overall pick in the draft back in 2017.

Well, that almost happened according to the 25-year-old Alaska native. On an episode of former NHLer John Scott's 'Dropping the Gloves" podcast, Swayman revealed that he was expecting to be a Leafs draft pick in the 2017 draft.




The Leafs ended up selecting Ian Scott over Swayman at the time, and with the following pick, Swayman was selected by the Bruins. It's not as though the Leafs struck out selecting Scott as he was named the CHL's goaltender of the year the following season after leading the Prince Albert Raiders to the WHL title.

Scott posted a 16-6-1 playoff record, five shutouts, a 1.96GAA and ridiculous .925 save percentage that year and appeared to be very promising. Unfortunately, Scott was hampered by injuries once he turned pro, including a hip surgery in 2019. After attempting multiple comebacks, Scott was forced to announce his retirement in July of 2022 at age 23.

Missing out on Swayman, although the Leafs had an excellent prospect in Scott, reminds the Leafs of the time they traded Tuukka Rask for Andrew Raycroft. Both times, the Leafs got the short end of the stick, so to speak, as Rask was a franchise goaltender for the Bruins and Swayman appears to be the next franchise goaltender in Boston.