The Canadiens should try to sign him when his college career ends.
When you project high school players into the NHL it is a crap shoot, I have a few metrics I look for and I do know in the back of my mind that the large majority will never make it. He won Mr. Hockey as the best Minnesota High School player and previous winners of that award were Casey Mittelstadt, Bryce Brodzinski, and Nick Bjugstad, as some that made it. When the Montreal Canadiens took Blake Biondi in the fourth round of the 2020 NHL Draft I thought it was a good selection. I had scouted him and thought he had a chance to play in the NHL someday.
Biondi attended Minnesota Duluth in 2020-21. His five points in 26 games weren’t great but he was a young prospect out of high school with a dash of the USHL thrown in.
2021-22, was a decent season for the 6’1” pivot. He had 17 goals and 11 assists in 42 games. He was named to the All-Tournament team and the upside was showing.
Double shoulder surgery and getting back on track took up the last two seasons. His 19 points in 34 games as a senior was a good year considering. But as a graduate student, he knew he would be able to play for one more season. So he entered the transfer portal and joined the University of Notre Dame.
With Notre Dame, Bioni has six goals and seven assists after 16 games. At the age of 22, he’s blossoming but he also has the power to sign with the Canadiens or wait until later in the summer and write his own ticket and see who has interest in him.
Biondi has a good wrist shot. When he gets near the net he’s able to swoop in and make a good play. He’s solid on the power play and he is starting to win more puck battles. He has bottom-six potential.