What’s the Best-Case Scenario for the Oilers’ Devon Levi?

There is a pretty interesting question hiding in the Edmonton Oilers’ crowded goaltending situation: What if Devon Levi turns out to be better than anyone expects?

That might sound like a stretch right now. Levi is only 24, and the Oilers acquired him from Buffalo on July 1 along with a 2028 seventh-round pick for a 2028 third-round selection. Last season, he spent the entire year in the AHL, going 23-20-9 with a 2.83 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage. Those aren't exactly numbers that scream “future NHL starter.”

Levi has shown he can play in the NHL.

But there is another side to the story. Levi has a .914 save percentage over 120 AHL appearances, and he hasn't really been given a long, uninterrupted opportunity to establish himself in the NHL. He has only 36 career starts with Buffalo, with a 3.29 GAA and .894 save percentage. In fact, when he first came out of Northeastern University, Levi went 5-2-0 with a .905 SV% and 2.94 GAA in his first seven NHL games in 2022-23, but Buffalo ultimately missed the playoffs by one point. The team was in the race, and Levi was one of the motivating factors.

So what happens if Edmonton becomes the place where things finally click? The Oilers have options. Tristan Jarry is still the highest-paid goalie in the group, although his first Edmonton season produced an ugly .858 save percentage in 19 appearances. Frederik Andersen brings experience, a Stanley Cup and a pretty impressive résumé, but he is 36 years old.

Frederik Andersen could be a great mentor for Levi.

Andersen has already said he is comfortable being part of a rotation. That makes sense. Edmonton doesn't necessarily need one goalie to play 55 or 60 games. It needs someone to give the team good goaltending when the games matter most. That could create an opening for Levi.

Maybe he starts the season with the smallest workload of the three. Andersen gets some important games. Jarry gets a real chance to show that last season was an aberration. Levi gets eased into the NHL schedule. And then something happens. He starts stopping everything.

The Oilers’ “what if” scenario could help them turn their season around.

Suddenly, the Oilers have a problem they would love to have. If Levi is consistently better than Jarry and Andersen, it becomes very difficult to keep him on the outside simply because the other two have longer NHL résumés. That is why the best-case scenario is more interesting than simply asking whether Levi can become a starter.

He could become the reason Edmonton's goaltending situation changes completely. The Oilers don't necessarily need Levi to make 55 starts. If Andersen gets 25 or 30 and Jarry doesn't seize the job, perhaps 32 to 35 starts are enough for Levi to lead the team.

And if those starts come with strong numbers and growing confidence, Edmonton could enter the playoffs with something it didn't necessarily expect to have in August: a 24-year-old goaltender who has earned the crease. That would be quite a development.

The best-case scenario for Devon Levi?

It’s more than surviving his first season in Edmonton. Instead, it would be that by March, the Oilers are wondering how they ever thought he would be their third goalie.