As the Ottawa Senators consider how to proceed with their backup goaltending position for next season, a new name has entered the fray.
According to NHL analyst and former Ottawa 67’s goalie Kevin Weekes, Buffalo Sabres farmhand Devon Levi is a player several teams are interested in, including the Senators.
Ottawa started last season with Leevi Merilainen as their backup, so this may be the first Leevi to Levi goalie transition in NHL history.
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Levi was a dominant goalie for the CCHL’s Carleton Place Canadians in 2019-20, posting phenomenal numbers. He had a 34-2-1 record, a 1.47 goals-against average, a .941 save percentage, and 8 shutouts. Levi also won just about every award in Canadian Junior A hockey that year.
The following season, as he continued to dominate at the NCAA level (Northeastern), his numbers for Canada at the World Juniors were also out of this world. He went 6-1 with a 0.75 goals-against average, a .964 save percentage and three shutouts.
Levi saw quite a bit of action in the 2023-24 NHL season, appearing in 23 games, but has spent much of the past two-and-a-half seasons with the AHL’s Rochester Americans. He’s still just 24 years old and currently appears crease-blocked in Buffalo behind Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Alex Lyon and Colton Ellis.
Still only 24, he’d certainly come at the right price, contract-wise.
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Last summer, Levi signed a two-year, $1.625 million contract with the Sabres at an average annual value of $812,500. So he still has another year left on his contract and will remain under club control as he hits restricted free agency next summer, although he is arbitration-eligible.
Levi was originally drafted by the Florida Panthers in the seventh round of the 2020 NHL Draft, but was part of the 2021 trade that sent Sam Reinhart to the Panthers.
The Senators have not ruled out leaning on their internal goaltending options, whether it’s Merilainen (RFA), Mads Sogaard (UFA-G6) or veteran James Reimer (UFA), but strong arguments can be made against all those options, and all three need new contracts.
By Steve Warne
The Hockey News
This story was originally published at The Hockey News Ottawa Senators site. Click on the latest headlines below to read the latest stories there:
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