Preparation, dedication and determination: Levi's journey to the NHL

Devon Levi watched intently from the KeyBank Center stands, sitting squarely behind the net where Craig Anderson was taking shots during a small-area practice drill.
Levi had signed his three-year, entry-level contract with the Buffalo Sabres three days prior and was unable to practice while he awaited the completion of his immigration process. He watched the beginning of practice from the bench alongside injured teammate Mattias Samuelsson.
When the Sabres moved into one zone for their final drill, Levi followed into the stands and sat directly behind Anderson. It was a scene his personal skating coach, Marco Raimondo, has seen before.

"The way our rink is set up, on one of the rinks you can be directly behind the net," he said. "I can kind of see Devon watching the players that are shooting, watching their releases. And I've seen him a couple times really zoned in, focused on their blades, on their bodies. Just him working and homing in on that.
"I think he wanted to just probably feel as though he's in the play."
The moment was a microcosm of how Levi has spent his time since joining the Sabres on March 20. He has carried a journal to the press box to watch games, dissecting the goalie's role in Buffalo's system, the patterns in shots against, and the skill sets of opposing goaltenders. He participated in three full skates with the team after watching that initial practice from the stands.
All of it speaks to the patient, studious nature that has carried Levi throughout his journey - from the undersized, underaged pee-wee goaltender who was not on Hockey Canada's radar; to World Juniors MVP; to Hobey Baker finalist; and, tonight, to National Hockey League starting goaltender.

Levi will make his debut for the Sabres against the New York Rangers at KeyBank Center. He said last summer that he never chased the highest level, but instead let it come to him, working diligently on his development along the way.
As he addressed reporters Thursday in the Sabres' dressing room, the time felt right.
"I felt like I was ready coming out of college, that's why I left," he said. "I took the step coming out of college. It's a leap of faith. I was ready for that leap and I'm really excited."

"An additional challenge"

Levi could have turned pro around this time last year. He chose instead to return for his junior year at Northeastern University, where he had just completed one of the great seasons in NCAA history.
Levi posted a .952 save percentage in 2021-22, first in the nation and second all-time. His 10 shutouts ranked third all-time. He won the Mike Richter Award as the top goaltender in college hockey.
He decided to return to school in part for another shot at the Frozen Four. He wanted to feel the pressure of living with the expectations that would accompany his success.
"It's an additional challenge that you're going to face at the pro level for sure," Levi said in July. "You play so many seasons and coming off a good season, how are you going to do it again? That's the question. A lot of people have a hard time with that."
Levi was speaking from experience. He led his league in save percentage in his second season of U18 AAA hockey with the Lac St-Louis Lions and improved on the mark in the team's best-of-5 playoff series (the number jumped from .927 to .942).

Jon Goyens, who coached Levi with the Lions, recalls outsiders at the time advising Levi to make the jump to junior hockey after that season. Levi decided to stay for what he looks back on now as one of the most challenging, productive seasons of his life.
Levi's save percentage dipped to .909 in that third year with the Lions, which he says now was the result of learning to adjust to expectations. But Goyens saw strides that year in various areas.
Typically one of the youngest players on his teams because of his December birthday, Levi grew into a leadership role. He developed routines that worked for him. He worked tirelessly on playing the puck, which became a key cog in how the team broke out of its zone.
It all came together in that year's playoffs. The Lions made it all the way to the league championship series, including a semifinal upset over a team that had gone 41-1 during the regular season. His save percentage in the postseason was .937.
When the Lions fell short in the final, Levi tried to take the blame.
"He stormed into the office and was almost apologetic, which you almost snicker at," Goyens said. "It's just how much he expects of himself and how much of a difference maker he wants to be."
Levi led the NCAA in save percentage again this season and is a finalist to repeat as the Richter Award winner.

"Everything seems to be hockey"

Jack Hughes has been Levi's teammate for the past two seasons at Northeastern. They were living together for summer school when Hughes was in Buffalo for the NHL Scouting Combine last June.
Hughes, a second-round draft pick by Los Angeles, said he had never seen anything quite like Levi's dedication to hockey. Their days at summer school started with a lift around 7:30 a.m. Levi would go to class until about 3:30 p.m., stop by the room until 4 o'clock, then head to the rink.
"I'll be in bed before he gets back from the rink some nights," Hughes said.
Owen Power had a similar takeaway from his experience playing with Levi for Canada at the Beijing Olympics in 2022. Power and Levi bonded as two of the youngest players on the team.
"For him, everything seems to be hockey," Power said recently. "Everything he does seems to have something to do with hockey."
That's not completely true. Levi is a gifted student, a class valedictorian in high school and a computer science major at Northeastern. His coursework last summer, Hughes said, included a coding class. He plays the piano and is loved by teammates for his childlike humor.
One of Levi's gifts is how he applies his cerebral nature to the development of what he described earlier this month as his one true passion: stopping pucks. It was a quality Gerry Gomez saw when he first met Levi as a 9-year-old in the Lac St-Louis program.
"I think he was able to take his own player development into his own hands at a young age," Gomez, who coach in the Lac St-Louis development program, said.
Gomez recalled one pee-wee tournament in which Levi and the Lions had not performed well. Gomez asked Levi, maybe 13 years old at the time, if he felt he could have done anything differently. When Levi was unsure, Gomez pointed out that he had deviated from his pregame routine.
"I kind of hinted, 'Well, your pregame prep wasn't the same today as it usually was. I usually see you with the ball,' and this and that," Gomez said. "He skipped out on that that day, for whatever reason it was. He's a young kid, right?"
Levi, having graduated to bantam, recalled the moment to Gomez a year later and said he hadn't skipped that part of his routine since.
"He's so cerebral," Gomez said. "He's just a bright kid. He's aware."

Levi has since tailored a routine that is uniquely his own. He trains off the ice using virtual reality software. He drifts toward the blue line and meditates on the ice during TV timeouts, his back turned to his net. (Hughes said there were times Levi was so deep in his meditation that he was unaware play had resumed at the opposite end of the ice.)
"He's very on top of his game," Hughes said. "He does everything he possibly can to get better."
His preparation breeds confidence. Goyens and Gomez both recall seeing it in Levi early on - a desire to challenge shooters at an age when some goaltenders may be unsure of themselves. When adult instructors would dangle one past him, Levi smiled and asked them to shoot again.
Levi hung around summer skates to serve as a shootout goalie for professional players in Montreal, a group that included Tampa Bay Lightning forward Alex Killorn and Florida Panthers forward Anthony Duclair. He was so dominant in one shootout that Killorn tweeted about it years later.

"I would say the most process-oriented, process-invested athlete I've ever been around," Goyens said. "That's why we see the Devon Levi we have now."

"He never changed"

There were tears in the Gomez household when Levi was making his dominant run for Team Canada at the World Junior Championship in 2021.
Part of Gomez's job in development with Lac St-Louis was to try and get his players on the radar of Hockey Canada. Levi - because of his late birthday (December 27), his size (6-feet, 184 pounds), and the fact he played on pee-wee teams that struggled - did not garner national interest at a young age.
Levi, months removed from being drafted by Florida during the seventh round, posted a remarkable .964 save percentage in seven World Junior games. He was recognized with tournament MVP honors along with a silver medal.
"It was emotional," Gomez said. "We were very proud."
But for all his on-ice exploits - the World Juniors run, the dominant seasons at Northeastern, the Olympic nod - Gomez and others who spent time with a young Levi are proudest of who he has become off the ice.
"What I'm most proud of is I see on social media for example, I see a lot of him taking time to meet with people, taking pictures with kids," Gomez said. "… After all of this, he's a great human. I think all his teammates will tell you that. A nicer guy you couldn't want on your team."
Raimondo says Levi texts him when he's in Montreal and asks generally, "Do you need any help?"
"He stayed true to exactly who he was," Raimondo said. "He never changed. And that's not true for everyone. Sometimes our ego can kind of get in the way. He has not let that happen once. He's just been the same old guy."
Goyens rattled off descriptors of the young man who will become the 60th goaltender to play in a game in fanchise history.
Genuine. Authentic. Engaging.
"He's one of the rare special ones on and off the ice," Goyens said. "I can't wait to see what he does."