If you had predicted at the end of last season that Jakub Lauko would be in the Bruins' opening night lineup this season, you would have gotten some funny looks.
The 22-year-old forward did not have a good 2021-22 season in Providence. After putting up 19 points in 23 games in a COVID-shortened AHL season in 2020-21, Lauko had just three goals and 16 points in 54 games last year. He had a plus-minus of minus-28, and no one else on the team was worse than minus-11.
Lauko, a 2018 third-round pick, referred to it as "hockey rock bottom" this week. Appearing on WEEI's Skate Podcast, he said he wondered if he even had a future in North American hockey.
"I completely lost all my confidence, like all the joy that I had playing hockey before," Lauko said. "There were times just like, back in Providence, where I was just sitting there, thinking about if it's gonna work for me here in America. Not just Boston, but like U.S. hockey and everything. I was just thinking like, is it really for me?"
After talking to family and friends and taking some time completely off from hockey after the season, Lauko decided he didn't need to give up on his NHL dreams. He just needed to hit the reset button.
"I just decided like, I need to hit the reset, take time completely off, just enjoy my life and try to find joy in going back to the rink again, to practices, to the gym," he said. "I can say I found it. I feel pretty good now."
Lauko found joy not just at the rink again, but also in the ring. He had already been incorporating some wrestling and boxing into his offseason training for the last few years. His strength coach in his hometown outside Prague is a family friend who also happens to be a former Olympic Greco-Roman wrestler. Lauko crossed paths with other wrestlers and some boxers in the gym and had started working with them.
This summer, he turned things up a couple notches when he took up Thai boxing (also known as Muay Thai or just kickboxing). That included sessions with Jiri Zak, a former ISKA and WMC champion in kickboxing and Muay Thai fighting.
Lauko said it was "more intense" than any training he had done before. It was a great workout that helped with strength, conditioning and toughness, and Lauko believes that how he trained in sparring sessions has directly benefited his play on the ice.
"When you're sparring with someone, you have one-minute spar sessions," Lauko explained. "You go in, all-in, then you have a little time off, then you go all-in again. On the ice, you have 30, 40 seconds, then you have a longer break. I was doing a minute sparring and just a 20-second break, so it's harder. It's tougher. I'm better prepared for what's happening on the ice. I feel like I can go, I can skate, I can battle in the corner for pucks much better than I used to."
Being able to bring energy every shift, for the entire shift, is critical for Lauko. The Bruins' development staff and Providence's coaches told him this summer that Boston was looking for speed and energy in the bottom six. Bruins coach Jim Montgomery has highlighted those same two traits as reasons why Lauko made the team out of camp.
Both were on display in Wednesday's season opener, when Lauko drew two penalties in the third period that helped the Bruins close out their win over the Capitals. One came when he went in hard on the forecheck and forced Nick Jensen into a holding penalty as the two battled for the puck. The other came when he used his speed to blow past Martin Fehervary, who could only reach out and trip him.
"That's why we want him in the lineup: His ability to draw penalties with his speed and to take pucks to hard areas," Montgomery said.
There's no guarantee Lauko stays in Boston all season, or even much longer. Someone will have to be sent down or waived when Anton Stralman is added to the active roster whenever his visa issue is resolved, presumably in the near future. Two more will follow when Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy return from offseason surgeries sometime around the end of November.
Lauko does not need to go through waivers to be sent to Providence, making him an easy choice if everything else is equal. Of course, if Lauko plays well and continues to prove himself to be a real asset, everything else may not be equal, and it may be someone more veteran on the move.
For now, though, Lauko is not worrying about any of that.
"I took it day-by-day [this preseason], and it's the same now," he said. "I know I'm the youngest guy, I'm on a two-way contract, I don't need to go through waivers. So, I'm just taking it day-by-day and trying to be the best out there every single day."
