David Levin wears a beaming smile when he tells you this: “I’m going to have the best year I’ve ever had.”

Now that he’s an invitee at the Leafs prospects camp this week, Levin isn’t aiming to merely take another big step in his development. This personable player’s career, so far, has been a triumph over odds and geography.

Everyone who has watched the native of Tel Aviv, Israel, who has progressed from playing on his father’s rollerblade team back in his homeland, to starring with the Sudbury Wolves of the OHL, harbors a hope that he can become the first ever Israel born player to crack hockey’s top league.

The 18 year old is inching closer to that goal every day. But one lingering obstacle remains: the question of his mandatory military service back in his homeland.

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Levin’s hockey career has been on something of a collision course with the three years military service all citizens of Israel are required to serve, once they reach the age of 18. If there’s an alternative in store for Levin, it’s the rising path of his already impressive hockey career, which may garner an exemption, based on his accomplishments so far.

“I have my agent and my family working on it for me, I’m trying to stay focused on hockey, that’s all I want to do,” Levin said as the Leafs prospect camp continued Wednesday with more drills and instruction, setting up Thursday’s scrimmage.

“We’ll see how it goes.”

Several NHL players from Finland also face mandatory conscription. Toronto’s Leo Komarov completed his the 173 days of service that are mandatory for Finns (by the age of 29), back in the summers of 2007-08. Ex-Leaf Aki Berg also fulfilled the requirement, and spent part of his service training on anti-aircraft guns.

Levin hopes his love of hockey won’t be denied. That love was a challenge at first, given that there were only two hockey rinks in Israel where he could persue the sport, and the closest was a four hour drive from his home.

That commute forced him back to roller hockey, and he practically begged his parents – Pavel and Lena — to move to hockey friendly Toronto, where he had relatives who could provide a home for him while he built his career.

“I asked my parents when I was nine years old and they said no, but I kept asking and asking, and three years later, they agreed I could move,” Levin said.

When he did arrive in Canada, Levin progressed to the Hill Academy in Vaughn, and the GTHL”s Don Mills Flyers, and wound up the OHL’s first overall draft pick in 2015.

That was at age 16, and it represented a long career climb from the roller rink in Netanya, a half hour drive up the coast from Tel Aviv, where his father coached a roller hockey team.

Levin’s father was a former pro soccer player in Latvia before moving to Israel, where he became an inline hockey coach, and got his son up on roller blades at age 4.

“My dad was my coach for 12 years, he’s the reason I am where I am now,” Levin said.

Levin travelled half way around the world, and earned the distinction of being a first overall pick in the OHL – but the NHL draft proved to be another hurdle.

Levin, in his first year of eligibility this year, was limited to 49 games on a last place Sudbury team, due in large part to a knee injury that sidelined him for almost two months, and a shoulder injury.

He was overlooked, leaving him to further toughen his resolve to make it to the NHL. He has two years remaining with the OHL, but has a target of signing a pro contract with an NHL team.

If there’s an inspiration at the Leafs camp for Levin – and there are many – one could be Toronto native Sean Durzi, who was selected by the Leafs in the second round at last weekend’s NHL draft in Dallas, after being overlooked at the 2017 draft in Chicago.

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“I just took that mentality where I wanted to get better and prove teams wrong, you have to have that to get ahead in this game,” said Durzi, who also rebooted his entire approach to hockey, from nutrition to training, to help turn around his fortunes.

Levin harbors the same philosophies.

“A lot of things are happening, but I want to focus on hockey, that’s all that’s on my mind,” he said.