He was a hot topic of conversation coming into the season, and many had pegged him as the uncontested starting goaltender after his late-season heroics in 2022-23, but with the emergence of Ukko Pekka Luukkonen as the starter, Devon Levi was put more on the back burner as the hype surrounding him cooled off. Despite this, he still found himself developing quite well and putting up some good numbers in the NHL, and some even better numbers in the American Hockey League (AHL). Despite his split time between the majors and the minors, he was clearly the number two goalie in the Sabres’ system, as Eric Comrie did not have the faith of former head coach Don Granato, and Levi still saw plenty of NHL action. By the end of the season, he showed that despite his flashes of brilliance, he still had room to grow and that he very much was doing so.
Levi Was Good When It Counted
In his time spent in the NHL with the Sabres, Levi had a few games where he struggled to keep pucks out of the net. He looked fatigued and downtrodden as the team around him collapsed and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Some other nights though, he looked like the unstoppable brick wall that many fans had grown fond of in his first few career starts. After winning the starting role out of training camp in October, he became less of a starter, and more of a supporter as his presence on the team was pushing Luukkonen to be better every single night. The two of them for a number of games were splitting time in the net and battling it out to see which of them could do better, and by the end of it, Luukkonen came out on top, and that was completely okay. Levi is still young and there were some glaring issues in his games, from some weak blocker side goals against, to some overcommitting on some other goals.
With the goalie competition between them going so well, it is no wonder why Levi’s development in the AHL went so well when he was sent down. His numbers were great, his attitude was even better as he had zero entitlement to his NHL roster spot, and on top of it all, he handled the transition between both leagues with grace. If anything, the time spent starting for the Rochester Americans only helped him when it came time to start some games for the Sabres. By the end of it all, he finished the season with a 10-8-2 record, a 3.10 goals-against average (GAA) and .899 save percentage (SV%) in the NHL, and a 16-6-4 record, along with a 2.42 GAA and a .927 SV% during the AHL regular season, while tacking on a 2-3 postseason record while managing to have a 2.57 GAA and a .923 SV% during that time.
His development went exactly how Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams should have wanted it to go, and it has prepared him to step up and be a full-time backup, or even a 1B style starting goaltender in the NHL in the coming 2024-25 season. Levi’s numbers and abilities are above what can be honed in the minors right now, and being in the NHL in the coming years will be instrumental for his development.
Grading Devon Levi
Grading goaltenders is a little bit different since the offensive element of the game is not a part of the equation. To establish the grading system for goaltenders, they will be graded under the criteria of their positioning, ability to make saves, reliability, consistency, and ultimately the confidence they give on any given night to win the game they are starting. Levi had some ups and downs with different parts of these criteria as the season progressed, but by the end of it, he settled in very nicely. With that being said, his grades would look like this:
Levi’s ability to win games this season did not really fall on his shoulders as much as one might think. The team in front of him played so poorly most nights that it was a miracle that his numbers ended up being as decent as they were. His 10 wins on the season were far below what I had predicted at the start of the season, but it is still a good starting point for his career, and he absolutely can build on that number next season. There is almost no reason beyond a total collapse that Levi would be putting out bad numbers next season, and with his development right on course, these grades should drastically improve as well.
Levi’s Future With the Sabres
With Luukkonen being such a strong candidate for the starting goaltender position, the question comes to mind if Levi is still the goalie of the future in Buffalo. Is he still going to overtake Luukkonen and win the starter job as one of them eventually gets moved off to another team, or will they both end up as one of the best starting tandems in the NHL similar to how the Boston Bruins have Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark? This is the huge question that plagues every Sabres fan, and it is more important considering that they will eventually have to pay them both big-time contracts.
At the end of the day, my mentality surrounding Levi is simply this. If his greatest contribution to the Sabres is that he pushed Lukkonen so hard that he became an excellent starting goaltender, and then he did nothing else besides be a decent backup goalie the rest of his career, that would be fine with me. I don’t think that is how things will play out, but if all Levi ends up being is a good backup goalie, then he is still just what this team needs, which is someone reliable between the pipes on any given night. If Luukkonen is not the long-term starter in Buffalo, Levi will be, but if Luukonen is, then Levi won’t be, and he will likely be moved within a few years to have a better opportunity. Even with the potential for having a great tandem, retaining two top-end goalie talents for a good price is tough, and unless Levi and Luukkonen are willing to take pay cuts, one of them will have to be shown the door eventually.
