The Top 25 Under 25 is a collaboration by members of the Die By The Blade community. It was a combination of staff writers and over 200 readers that ranked Buffalo Sabres players under the age of 25 as of August 1, 2023. Each participant used their own metric of current ability and production to rank each player. Staff votes counted equally with reader votes.
Devon Levi
Drafted: 2020 – 7th Round (212st overall) by Florida
Position: G
Born: December 27, 2001 – 21 years old
2022-2023 stats: Northeastern University: 34 GP – 17-12-5, 2.24 GAA,. 933 sv %
NHL – 7 GP – 5-2-0, 2.94 GAA, .905 sv %
2022 T25U25 Ranking: 9
To absolutely no one’s surprise, not one single person, Devon Levi has jumped quite significantly up the Top 25 Under 25 list this year. This past season saw Levi play another outstanding year of college hockey before making the brief jump to the NHL. Although it was brief, it made us all wish we’d gotten more than just seven games with him last season, and sparked a lot of excitement for the team’s future ahead with him in net.
He finished his NCAA career with three seasons at Northeastern under his belt, having played in 66 games and accruing an outstanding 1.90 GAA and .942 save percentage with 16 shutouts. That’s roughly 24 percent of the games he played that he recorded a shutout in, which, when you put it that way, is wild. His collegiate career ended with a record of 38-22-6.
Levi went on to make his NHL debut on March 31, a 3-2 overtime win for the Sabres. Jeff Skinner had the game-winning goal in overtime, and Levi made 31 saves, including 19 in the third period alone. After the game, he called it ‘a dream come true.’
Following his debut, he went on to appear in six of the final eight games of the season for the Sabres. Kevyn Adams, Don Granato & crew really got a chance to see what Levi could do, and he was impressive in a small sample size. He also won the Mike Richter Award as the top collegiate goaltender for the second-straight season, the first two-time winner since the award began being awarded in 2014.
After the season ended, Levi also appeared in one game for Canada at the World Championships.
Heading into the new season, Levi is poised to be the Sabres’ top goaltender. Much is expected of the young netminder, and he appears ready to step up to the challenge.