(Buffalo) There are the athletes, many, who describe themselves as “students of the game.” And there is, in a class of his own, Devon Levi.
Ten days ago, the Montreal goaltender was still playing with the Northeastern University Huskies. After his team was eliminated, he signed his first contract with the Buffalo Sabres. Last Thursday, he took part in his first NHL practice.
Monday morning, while the team had had the day before off after a busy weekend, he again trained with his new teammates. An untrained eye will not have noticed anything in particular. Don Granato, he did not miss anything.
“We can already see that he studied every shooter on our team,” the Sabers head coach said. He planned how each of them would shoot. We can already see how effective it is. »
Jordan Harris played one season with Levi at Northeastern. “That doesn’t surprise me at all!” “, he exclaimed, Monday, when he was told the words of Granato.
The defender of the Canadian remembers in particular having seen his teammate working with a virtual reality helmet. “He was there, in the middle of the locker room, stopping pucks with no one around him. It was pretty crazy! »
That, in Harris’s eyes, is what makes Levi “so good.”
It is not yesterday that the native of Dollard-des-Ormeaux approaches his job with so much seriousness. In an interview with La Presse in November 2020, when he started in the NCAA, he explained how he dissected each of his training sessions by viewing the images captured by a GoPro camera installed behind his net.
Standing 6 feet tall, he is considered a small guardian. He has therefore raised the visual monitoring of the puck (tracking) to the rank of quasi-obsession and pays meticulous attention to fine-tuning his movements.
“He moves so well!” “, launches Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, new partner of Levi in front of the net of the Sabers. He’s not the biggest, but he makes up for it in other ways. Look at Juuse Saros, who is one of the best goalkeepers in the league. Big or small, it doesn’t matter; if you’re a good keeper, you’re a good keeper. You have to stand out. »
Saros’ name is almost always mentioned when talking about Devon Levi. On the one hand because he is one of the Montrealers’ favorite goalkeepers. And on the other hand because he is the only goalkeeper 6 feet or less to have played the majority of his team’s games this season in the NHL.
The subject of the greatness of guardians is not new, notice. “I was told about it in my draft year,” Saros himself recalled, in early January, on the sidelines of the Canadiens’ visit to Nashville. The Finn was drafted in 2013.
The room for maneuver, for goalkeepers with a smaller size, is slim, if not non-existent. “I have to be attentive to the details in my positioning and in my movements to give no space,” Saros added.
Sounds a lot like Devon Levi’s quest.
As cerebral and rational as he is, the Quebecer still seems to be floating on a cloud.
After his team’s practice on Monday, he referred to the chance he has been given as an “honor.” He doesn’t know if he will play a game by the end of the season, but he doesn’t care. He is boosted from the moment he wakes up in the morning and concentrates all his energies in the single day in front of him.
“When they give me the signal, I’ll be ready,” he promises. A statement that is as valid these days as next season, in Buffalo or Rochester, in the American League. “I just want to stop pucks,” he summed up.
The organization places high hopes in him, but seems willing to take his time. In an interview with La Presse a little over a year ago, general manager Kevyn Adams was enthusiastic about the young goalkeeper he had acquired a few months earlier through a transaction. “I believe he has a bright future,” the CEO said, adding that the organization didn’t want to “rush anything” in his case. The team was ready to offer him a contract last spring, but we respected his decision to spend another year in university.
If the organization is substantial, it will give him the necessary time to adapt. By having him sign an NHL contract this season, we wanted to see him evolve immediately in the team’s entourage, which does not prevent him from being transferred to the minor leagues in the fall.
Levi didn’t ask for that much. For a week, he has been touching his dream. On the ice, he finds that he must be “perfect” given the quality of the shots he faces. “Anyone can score goals,” he said.
In the locker room, he finds his bearings with his new teammates. The three goalkeepers of the formation – Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Eric Comrie and Craig Anderson – took him under their wing.
Luukkonen had never met him until last week, but it sounded like hearing him talk about an old friend. “Everyone sees how talented he is, but the first thing you notice is his work ethic. He is interested in all the details, he is eager to improve. He is impressive. »
“It’s easy to work with them,” confirms Levi. They are all very welcoming. »
He particularly enjoys his discussions with Anderson, who, at 41, could literally be his father. “He’s so smart!” I learn a lot with him, it’s very good for me. It’s perfect, actually. »
The even more perfect scenario would no doubt have been for him to face the Canadiens on Monday, but his first start will have to wait a while yet. The Sabers still cling to a slim hope of making the playoffs. And Levi, anyway, is in no rush.
Even though this student of the game looks ready for graduation, he’s not done learning. We can even believe that it has only just begun.
