If you grade Devon Levi’s performance strictly on what he did in the AHL this season, he gets an A-plus-plus. But, unfortunately for Levi, we’re grading his performance on what he did only with the Blue and Gold, and that’s where the positive vibes end.
So far during his young career with the Sabres, Levi looked good early, very okay in 2023-24, then this past season proved he wasn’t ready for the NHL. But, he’s a goaltender, and it might be the hardest job for one to master in sports. So on that end, bad numbers early on don’t entirely faze me.
Grade: C - I’ll let everyone else give Levi a ‘D’ or an ‘F,’ and that would be too cheap if I did the same. Yeah, if he’s 25 and still playing this way, his grade would be off-the-charts bad. But in just his age-23 season with little experience to go on? I’ll give him a very, very solid ‘C,’ with the warning that, should this continue, he’ll be looking at more unsatisfactory marks.
Devon Levi’s 2024-25 stint with the Sabres was a short one
The good news is that Levi crushed it in college, and now, he’s crushing it in the AHL. That tells me one thing: He’ll be crushing it in the NHL at some point, but it wasn’t this season. Instead, Levi finished the year with a 2-7-0 record, notched an 0.872 save percentage, and a meager 4.12 GAA.
He needed to step up when the Sabres broke down defensively, and he never passed the test. That said, bringing James Reimer back while relegating Levi to the AHL was more than the right call, and he led the Amerks moderately deep in the playoffs. For me, this is the first step of what the Blue and Gold need for an ultra-successful goaltender, and Levi handled the “demotion” well.
It also showed he wasn’t rattled with the way he performed at the NHL level. And by January 20th, the writing was more than on the wall. But still, there’s a lot of hope here with Levi following what was another strong stint with the Amerks, and a sign of things to come in the City of Good Neighbors.
Will 2025-26 be the year that Devon Levi finally shows up?
That’s the burning question, ain’t it? The answer is this: Probably more than he did this past season. Levi developed well this year in Rochester, and there’s no doubt about it. And he’ll have a real opportunity to cut into Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s ice time, considering the Finn’s struggles in 2024-25.
But Levi didn’t play well enough this season to make much of a dent going into 2025-26, so if he wants to take some of Luukkonen’s time, he has no choice but to show he improved enough to garner something around a 3.10 goals allowed average and a 0.890 save percentage.
Anything lower should mean another stint in Rochester until he proves he can hang with the NHL’s demands. But, once again, you can’t ignore his development this past season in Rochester, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt - he’ll hit those numbers.