Devon Levi

Sabres Stay Proactive Shuffling Goalies Ahead of Opener

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Of the number of things that need to go right for the Sabres to break their playoff drought this season, goaltending is the most vital. 

So, when Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was held out of the start of camp and then left his lone preseason appearance with an injury, you wouldn’t blame anyone for expressing their concern with the positon. 

It’s been a game of musical chairs in the crease for the Sabres this preseason. Alexandar Georgiev was signed just ahead of training camp as an insurance policy for Luukkonen only to be waived on Tuesday after the Sabres claimed Colten Ellis off waivers from the Blues. Meanwhile, Devon Levi got two brief looks before being sent to Rochester and Alex Lyon is poised to inherit the starter’s job while Luukkonen recovers. 

Swapping Ellis and Georgiev is an interesting and telling decision by the Sabres. Their acquisition of each also speaks to their commitment to Levi’s ongoing development. 

Kevyn Adams was proactive in his initial pursuit of Georgiev. With Luukkonen on the shelf to start camp, and with Scott Ratzlaff and Topias Leinonen as the only organizational options beyond Levi, Georgiev represented a high floor option to insulate Buffalo’s goaltending stable as they waited for Luukkonen to heal up. While Georgiev’s recent track record wasn’t confidence inspiring, he was one of the few goalies remaining on the market with an NHL resume. His signing at least offered some form of short-term insurance, eliminating any potential risk of a first-year pro being the next recall. 

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Developing Levi Must Remain the Focus for the Sabres

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Once again, there are more questions than answers in the Buffalo goal crease as the offseason approaches. 

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen did not carry the play that earned him a five-year extension into this season. Instead, his continued regression threw another log onto the burning wreckage of this season as he’s seemingly ceded starting duties to James Reimer over the last two weeks. 

Luukkonen was one of the bright spots of the 2023-24 season and served as the unquestioned starter for the majority of this season, despite his up and down play. Only recently has Lindy Ruff changed course, starting Reimer in all but two of the last eight games. Luukkonen has only started on the front half of two back-to-back sets, taking losses on March 22 and 29 against Minnesota and Philadelphia, respectively. It’s a complete course reversal from Ruff, who played Luukkonen in eight of the first 10 games of March, only playing Reimer twice, with his starts coming 17 days apart. 

For his part, Reimer has been steady. He won’t be mistaken for a Vezina candidate any time soon, but he’s made timely saves and the results have followed. He’s won five straight and posted a 4-1-1 record to Luukkonen’s 3-7-0 mark in March (Reimer is 5-1-1 in his last seven after Tuesday’s win in Ottawa). While Reimer has had three stellar starts over this current run, Luukkonen’s play has been defined by leaky goals and poor results. In the month of March alone, he’s allowed five or more goals on four occasions while allowing two or fewer just twice. 

With the season long over, how this affects Buffalo’s approach to the offseason is a far bigger issue. And specifically how they choose to manage Devon Levi. 

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The Instigator Podcast 13.23 – Deadline Names to Watch & Listener Questions

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Just a week remains until the trade deadline and the Sabres have won six of seven games. This episode shares a few Buffalo Sabres players I’m keeping an eye on ahead of the deadline before diving in to a few listener questions that touch on the potential downtown soccer stadium, Alex Ovechkin’s record pursuit, Devon Levi and Buffalo’s blueline.

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Overthought: Development is the Key to Levi’s Demotion

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Overthought is a semi-regular series that takes a look at some of the more interesting and notable tidbits shared by Elliotte Friedman in his weekly 32 Thoughts column. Each edition will feature some unique thoughts on the state of the Sabres or league as a whole before digging in on some of the notes from Freidman’s weekly column.

History repeated itself, as Devon Levi was sent to Rochester earlier this week, not far off from his initial demotion last season after a similarly rocky start to the season. 

Like last year, the choice to send Levi down is sound. His play wasn’t up to an NHL standard and the Sabres risked bleeding points with every game Levi started. This isn’t a sign of defeat for Levi, however. At 22 years old, he has a lot of runway before any definitive proclamation about his career can be made. He has only played 63 professional games and he will benefit from an increased workload in Rochester; another benefit he enjoyed last year as well. 

If the Sabres have made any error with Levi, it has been expecting too much of him too soon. He was steady in his initial seven-game cameo in 2022-23 after signing his entry level contract, but his consistency has waned since. Few, if any, goaltenders are capable of stepping into a full time NHL job from NCAA or junior. Those that have are either developmental exceptions or have had to work their way through regression in their play as teams and shooters have adjusted. Levi appears to be more the rule than exception when it comes to his development track. 

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The Instigator Podcast 13.10 – The Sabres Head West and Devon Levi Heads to Rochester

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It’s time for Sabres After Dark but Devon Levi will have to participate like the rest of us as the goaltender was sent to Rochester. James Reimer will be taking over backup duties while Levi gets to take over as the starter for the Amerks. We talk about how this move is the best option for Levi’s development while also reflecting on how his play led the Sabres to this decision. 

We also touch on the need for the Sabres to perform well on this California swing if they hope to make any headway in the standings. Additionally, we discuss Jim Montgomery’s firing in Boston and how Alex Ovechkin’s injury will affect his chase of the goal scoring record. 

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The Instigator Podcast – Pipeline Update featuring Greg Balloch of EPRinkside

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As the season approaches we will run through each position group in Buffalo’s pipeline to look at how the Sabres are shaping up and what sort of talent they have coming in the future. For the first iteration of this series, Greg Balloch of EPRinkside joins the show to discuss Buffalo’s goaltenders. We kick off with a conversation on Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Devon Levi before digging into the club’s prospects, with Greg providing some great insight on newly drafted Ryerson Leenders and Scott Ratzlaff. 

You can find The Instigator Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts:

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The Instigator Podcast 12.23 – All Star Week Musings: Levi, Jiricek, West Coast Trip

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The Sabres are off for a week and the All Star Game is here. We have a slightly longer episode this week that tackles the Sabres’ results from their west coast trip, Devon Levi’s return to Rochester during the team’s time off and we spitball about David Jiricek who has openly complained about his situation in Columbus.

A Better Situation is Needed for Devon Levi

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Buffalo’s goaltending situation is a problem of their own making. 

Kevyn Adams was gambling when he left his goaltending stable untouched in the offseason. After 46 games, there isn’t much that’s improved. 

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has stabilized the position thus far, taking over the starting job with a string of quality play that dates back to the end of December. He’s currently the best chance the team has to salvage anything from this season as his current form makes him Buffalo’s best, and only reliable goaltender. A pessimist may look at his larger body of work and worry that this is just a blip, but Luukkonen has exhibited much more control over his game during this stretch, has done a better job playing bigger in his net and has held the fort even as the team in front of him continues their up-and-down season. 

Beyond Luukkonen is where things get cloudy. There have been rumors of promises made to Devon Levi in the time leading up to his signing and his seven game cameo appeared to justify the franchise’s faith in him as an NHL regular. So far, that faith hasn’t been fully rewarded. 

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The Instigator Podcast 12.20 – Some Thoughts on Buffalo’s Direction in Goal

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The Sabres aren’t in a great place when it comes to goaltending. It may not be their biggest issue, but it’s a problem that could have the most long term impact on the club. I string together some rambling thoughts on the performances of Devon Levi and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, how the Sabres are handling Levi and what they can do to ensure Levi’s ongoing growth. Perhaps it’s time to make a sizeable investment in a goaltender outside the organization. Is the risk worth the reward and if a new face allows Levi to grow in the AHL, does that increase the return for the Sabres?

Don’t Forget the Summer Goalie Market When Questioning the Sabres Moves

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The season may only be four games old, but the Sabres’ 1-3 start has put some of the fans’ biggest offseason concerns in the spotlight.

Buffalo’s decision to leave the roster largely untouched and lean on their unproven trio of goaltenders was chief among the offseason debate in Sabres circles. Leaning on a roster that made the Sabres the third highest scoring team in the NHL wasn’t a terrible choice when you dig into the data. Kevyn Adams has continued to lock up the core of his roster and it was those players – most notably Tage Thompson (47 goals), Dylan Cozens (31 goals) and Rasmus Dahlin (73 points) – who pushed the Sabres to the top of the league’s scoring race. The choices in goal were a greater gamble. 

Eric Comrie and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s struggles last season underscored the position that likely kept the Sabres out of the playoffs. While Devon Levi has shown promise (and was stout in Tuesday’s win over Tampa), handing the keys to a 21-year old with seven games of NHL experience is unprecedented. If there was one position where fans would have agreed with more tangible reinforcement, it would have been in net. The league’s goalie market from the summer made that proposition much harder to accomplish than maybe some assume. 

Connor Hellebuyck was far and away the best goaltender available over the summer. There were widespread reports that the Jets were shopping the former Vezina winner, though a deal never materialized. Hellebuyck’s contract status almost certainly played a role in the lack of a trade. While Hellebuyck was a goaltender I felt could push the Sabres to a playoff berth, I would not have pursued him with a lengthy contract extension attached. Now that he’s signed a seven-year, $59.5 million extension, it would be hard to see the logic in acquiring that sort of player given the faith the organization has in Levi. 

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