The Sabres acquired Levi in a trade with the Florida Panthers in July 2021.
The Buffalo Sabres are considered one of the best deepest prospect pools in the NHL, not only because of their selecting high in recent drafts but also due to their eye for talent and their organizational choices of either leaving players to develop in their home countries or bringing them to North America. Leading up to the opening of training camp in mid-September, we will look at the club’s top 40 prospects. All are 25 years old or younger, whose rights are currently held by the Sabres or are on AHL or NHL deals and have played less than 40 NHL games.
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1. – DEVON LEVI – G (ROCHESTER – AHL / BUFFALO – NHL)
In the final player on my prospect list, the placement of Levi is not only because of how highly regarded he is, but how much of an impact his success or failure could potentially have on the Buffalo Sabres future.
The Montreal native was a 2020 seventh-round pick of the Florida Panthers and was acquired by the Sabres in July 2021 in the deal that sent Sam Reinhart to the Sunshine State and brought back a 2022 first-round pick that turned in the club’s #2 ranked prospect in Jiri Kulich.
The 22-year-old has an impressive list of credentials, including winning the top goaltender at the 2021 World Junior, making Team Canada for the 2022 Beijing Olympics, and winning the Mike Richter Award for best NCAA goaltender twice at Northeastern University before turning pro and signing with Buffalo late in the 2022-23 season.
Levi played well in a seven-game stint at the end of the season, which convinced the Sabres hierarchy that he was ready to be their starter, but after going 1-3 in four straight starts at the start of last season, the weight of being the go-to guy appeared to be too much, too soon.
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After posting a 10-8-2 record with a sub .900 save percentage in the first half, Buffalo decided it was the best for the youngster to play regularly in the AHL with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen getting most of the starts with the Sabres. The decision paid dividends, as Levi went 16-6-4, with a 2.42 GAA and .927 save % and had a positive experience with the Amerks.
This season it appears that Levi will get a chance to play regularly to start the year, but Luukkonen is likely head coach Lindy Ruff’s choice to get most of the workload. With him still being waiver-exempt and veteran James Reimer in place to be a backup option, there is some debate whether the young netminder would be better off playing regularly with the Amerks instead of sitting most nights watching Luukkonen play.
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