| Devon Levi | |
| Birth Date: | 27 December 2001 |
| Birth Place: | Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec, Canada |
| Height Ft: | 6 |
| Height In: | 0 |
| Weight Lbs: | 185 |
| Position: | Goaltender |
| Catches: | Left |
| League: | NHL |
| Team: | Buffalo Sabres |
| Prospect League: | AHL |
| Prospect Team: | Rochester Americans |
| Ntl Team: | CAN |
| Draft: | 212th overall |
| Draft Year: | 2020 |
| Draft Team: | Florida Panthers |
| Career Start: | 2023 |
Devon Levi (born December 27, 2001) is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for the Rochester Americans in the American Hockey League (AHL) as a prospect to the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL).
Levi was the MVP at the 2019 World Junior A Challenge. He was then the 2019–20 Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) MVP and Top Goalie, and the 2019–20 Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL) MVP and Top Goaltender. He was drafted 212th overall by the Florida Panthers in the 7th round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, and in 2021 his rights were traded to the Buffalo Sabres.
He played for the Canadian national junior ice hockey team at the 2021 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. The team won the silver medal, and Levi ended the tournament with a .964 save percentage (SV%) (topping the all-time record established by Carey Price in 2007). He was named the Best Goaltender of the tournament, and to the tournament All Star Team. He was named to Team Canada in the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Levi is from Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec, a Montreal suburb.[1] His father Laurent Levi is a software engineer, and his mother Eta Yacowar is an office administrator at the software company they are building.[2] [3] He has a younger brother, James.[4] [5] He has been friends with fellow goalie Yaniv Perets since childhood, and the two played on the same youth teams for several years.[6] While Levi's first language is English, he also speaks French.[7]
Levi, who is Jewish, attended Hebrew Foundation School.[8] He then attended West Island College (2019), where he was a valedictorian.[8] [9] He took online courses from Athabasca University.[10]
Levi began by playing street hockey with his father, and until he was 11 years old, his only experience in goal was on concrete.[9]
He is noted by media for his speed and technique.[11] [12] He is also noted by coaches for his ability to read the players and the game in front of him, and track the puck through traffic.[13] [14] [15] During every timeout, he drops to his knees 15 feet in front of his net, bows his head, and uses breathing techniques to reset.[16]
Levi played youth hockey for the Lac St-Louis Lions of the under-18 Quebec Midget AAA Hockey League in the Quebec Junior Hockey League (QMAAA) in 2016–19, beginning as their youngest player in his first season at 14 years of age.[7] [5] [17] In 2018 he won the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association (MAAA) Governor's Award for Student Athlete of the Year, and the Daniel Brière Award for Best Hockey and Academic Achievement.[7] In 2018 and 2019 he was chosen for the MAAA First All Star Team, and he was a two-time recipient of the Federation of Athletic Excellence of Quebec (FAEQ)/Montreal Canadiens' Foundation Award and Scholarship for Athletic and Academic Excellence (bursaries of $1,500).[7] [18]
In 2019, he set the record for most saves ever in a 60-minute Quebec Midget AA game, in a game in which he made 64 saves on 65 shots.[19] In 2019 he also received the MAAA Ken Dryden Trophy as Best Goalie Prospect in the League, and was awarded the Patrick Roy Trophy as the best defensive player in the playoffs.[7] He holds the league record for career shutouts, with eight.[20]
Levi began his junior career in the Ottawa, Ontario, area with the Carleton Place Canadians in the Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL), a Junior A league, during the 2019–20 season.[9] [21] For the season, he had a .941 save percentage (SV%), and a 1.47 goals against average (GAA), with 8 shutouts (in 37 games), all leading the league.[2] [22] [9] [23]
He was named the 2019–20 Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) Player of the Year, CJHL MVP, CJHL Top Rookie, and CJL Top Goalie.[9] He was also named the 2019–20 CCHL MVP, CCHL Top Goaltender, CCHL Rookie of the Year, CCHL Top Prospect, and a CCHL First Team All Star.[9] [24] [25] [26] Canadians' head coach Jason Clarke said: "If there is anyone who is going to take the NCAA by storm next year and really do some special things, I’d bet my mortgage on Devon Levi."[27]
He was drafted 212th overall by the Florida Panthers in the 7th round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. On July 24, 2021, Levi's NHL rights, along with a 2022 first-round pick, were traded by the Panthers to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for Sam Reinhart.[28] [29]
Levi committed to play in Boston for the NCAA Division I Northeastern University's Huskies men's ice hockey team, starting in the 2020–21 season. However, Levi did not begin his college career until the following season, due to his lingering rib injury.[30] [31] [32] Levi majored in computer science at Northeastern, where he attended on scholarship.[10] [9] He was named to the Hockey East All-Academic Team for 2020–21.[4]
He began his NCAA career in the 2021–22 season after missing the 2020–21 season with a rib injury suffered in the 2021 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. He began his career with Northeastern by putting up back-to-back shutouts.[32] In both October and November 2021, Levi was named Hockey East Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Month.[4] [16] By mid-season, he had set the Northeastern record for shutouts in a season.[12] Levi finished the 2021–22 season with a .952 SV%, tying Connor Hellebuyck for the second best single season save percentage in NCAA history. Levi won the Mike Richter Award as the top college goaltender and led Northeastern to the Hockey East regular season title.[33]
In 2022–23, Levi led Northeastern to a victory in the Beanpot tournament. Levi won both the tournament MVP and the Eberly award for having the best save percentage after stopping 63 of 66 shots. Levi once again led the country in save percentage during the regular season and won the Mike Richter award for a second consecutive season, becoming the first player to accomplish this feat. Levi's college career ended with a loss to Providence in the Hockey East playoffs, and he finished his NCAA Career with the second best career SV% in NCAA history.
Six days after his college career ended, Levi signed his entry-level contract with the Buffalo Sabres.[34] Levi joined a crowded goaltender room, joining Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Craig Anderson, and Eric Comrie on the NHL roster. Levi made his Sabres debut on March 31, in an overtime win against the New York Rangers.[35] Levi would play 7 of the Sabres' final 9 games, amassing 5 wins.
Levi began the 2023–24 season on the Sabres NHL roster with Luukkonen and Comrie. Levi started the first 4 games for the Sabres, going 1-3-0 with a 3.26 GAA and a .892 save percentage, before suffering a lower body injury and missing over two weeks.[36] Levi performed well in his first two games after the injury, but struggled in a game against the Boston Bruins, allowing 5 goals in 18 shots before being pulled. Levi would play one more game and won against the Washington Capitals, but with Luukkonen and Comrie both playing well, Levi was reassigned the Rochester Americans in order to get him more games.[36] After two games with the Americans, Levi was recalled[37] due to Luukkonen suffering an illness.[38] However, upon Luukkonen's return, he emerged as the Sabres clear top goaltender,[39] and Levi was loaned to Rochester again in order to allow him to play more games. Levi was recalled again ahead of the Sabres west coast road trip, and played in one game before being loaned to Rochester after the trip.[40] Levi would remain with the Americans throughout the month of February, and scored his first professional point on March 1, with an assist on Aleksandr Kisakov's game-winning goal.[41]
Levi first attracted the attention of Hockey Canada through his stellar performance at the 2019 World Junior A Challenge, an under-20 tournament.[9] He stopped 77 of 80 shots, led Canada East to a silver medal, and was named tournament MVP.[42] [43]
He gained more widespread recognition during the 2021 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships due to his outstanding play for the Canada men's national junior ice hockey team, helping them win the silver medal.[44] [45] Levi ended the tournament with a .964 SV% (topping the all-time record established by Carey Price in 2007) and a 0.75 GAA, both being the best in the tournament.[46] [47] He became the second goaltender ever to record three shutouts in the tournament.[48] He was named the Best Goaltender of the tournament by the IIHF Directorate, and named to the tournament All-Star Team.[49] [50] After the World Juniors, Levi revealed that he had played the entire tournament with a fractured rib, after sustaining the injury against the German team in the opening game.[51] [52]
He was named to Team Canada in the 2022 Winter Olympics.[53] [54] Levi did not feature in any games in the 2022 Olympics, as Canada chose to play Matt Tomkins and Edward Pasquale.
| Regular season | Playoffs | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | W | L | OTL | MIN | GA | SV% | GP | W | L | MIN | GA | SO | GAA | SV% | ||||
| 2016–17 | Lac St-Louis Lions | QMAAA | 23 | 11 | 10 | 0 | — | — | 5 | 2.69 | .925 | 4 | 1 | 3 | — | — | 0 | 3.53 | .877 | ||
| 2017–18 | Lac St-Louis Lions | QMAAA | 26 | 14 | 11 | 0 | — | — | 1 | 2.98 | .927 | 5 | 2 | 3 | — | — | 0 | 2.12 | .942 | ||
| 2018–19 | Lac St-Louis Lions | QMAAA | 28 | 14 | 13 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 3.10 | .909 | 16 | 9 | 7 | — | — | 2 | 2.49 | .937 | ||
| 2019–20 | Carleton Place Canadians | CCHL | 37 | 34 | 2 | 1 | 2209 | 54 | 8 | 1.47 | .941 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| HE | 32 | 21 | 10 | 1 | 1875 | 48 | 10 | 1.54 | .952 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 2022–23 | Northeastern University | HE | 34 | 17 | 12 | 5 | 2,065 | 77 | 6 | 2.24 | .933 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2022–23 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 430 | 21 | 0 | 2.94 | .905 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2023–24 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 23 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 1,295 | 67 | 0 | 3.10 | .899 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2023–24 | Rochester Americans | AHL | 26 | 16 | 6 | 4 | 1,561 | 63 | 0 | 2.42 | .927 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 350 | 15 | 0 | 2.57 | .923 | ||
| NHL totals | 30 | 15 | 10 | 2 | 1,724 | 88 | 0 | 3.06 | .901 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| Year | Team | Event | Result | GP | W | L | OT | MIN | GA | SO | GAA | SV% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Canada | WJC | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 398 | 5 | 3 | 0.75 | .964 | ||
| 2023 | Canada | WC | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 60 | 2 | 0 | 2.00 | .917 | ||
| Junior totals | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 398 | 5 | 3 | 0.75 | .964 | ||||
| Senior totals | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 60 | 2 | 0 | 2.00 | .917 | ||||
| Award | Year | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Hockey East All-Rookie Team | 2021–22 | [55] | |
| All-Hockey East First Team | 2021–22 | [56] | |
| AHCA East First Team All-American | 2021–22 | [57] | |
| Mike Richter Award | 2021–22, 2022–23 | [58] |