Have you ever heard the saying, “I don’t have to be faster than the bear; I just have to be faster than you?”
Because that’s kind of what this is for Devon Levi.
Levi doesn’t have to prove he’s better than Frederik Andersen. He has to prove he’s better than Tristan Jarry, and he’ll have however long Andersen is out to do it. When Andersen returns, the Edmonton Oilers will have three goalies and only two positions available. At some point, somebody will have to go.
This is Levi’s chance. It might be the best chance he’s ever had in his NHL career.
Andersen is expected to miss training camp after suffering an injury during an offseason training session, and the Oilers haven’t given a timeline for his return. That leaves Jarry and Levi as Edmonton’s two healthy NHL goalies entering camp and, presumably, the regular season.
Levi was buried so deep in the Buffalo Sabres prospect pool that he never really got looked at the way he could have elsewhere. He entered the NHL as one of the Sabres’ top prospects and played seven games immediately after leaving Northeastern University in 2023, then started 21 games as a rookie the following season. Buffalo kept adding goalies around him, including Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, which started a series of events that led Levi to spend much of his time in Rochester.
Levi has appeared in 39 NHL games over three seasons and has a 17-17-2 record with an .894 save percentage. Those numbers don't establish him as an NHL goalie, and his time in Buffalo never established that either. He has spent much of his professional career moving between leagues while trying to get enough NHL starts to show where he belongs.
Edmonton can give him those starts now.
Jarry enters camp with the inside track because of his experience and contract, though his standing with Oilers fans isn't particularly strong after last season. He has been around the NHL for years, has been an All-Star and has handled a starter's workload before. His recent seasons have also included enough poor stretches that fans are not unreasonable for not trusting him.
Once Andersson gets healthy, Mike Babcock and his staff will have seen who should back him up between Levi and Jarry.
Edmonton has no reason to run Jarry through every preseason game while Andersen is unavailable, and Levi needs to spend time in the NHL at this point in his career. He's 24 years old now. Another season spent waiting for occasional opportunities won't do him much.
Jarry will have the same opportunity, of course, but his job isn't protected simply because he enters camp having been in the NHL longer.
Now, there are fans out fans wondering "what about Connor Ungar."
Ungar has gotten a lot of attention after his first professional season in the AHL, but he still needs time. Goaltending development rarely benefits from skipping steps, and another season in the AHL gives Ungar more needed time to develop before he makes that next step.
There is no reason to push him into the NHL in September, especially when Levi is already there.
He's played in the NHL before, albeit for fewer games than Jarry, and has reached the point where Edmonton needs to find out whether he can be an NHL goaltender. Buffalo never gave him a long runway to answer that question, and his path kept getting crowded by other goalies.
For however long Andersen is recovering, the path in Edmonton is open.
Levi doesn't need to beat Andersen, he just needs to outrun Jarry.
