( Photo Credit:  Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images )

By: Mark Allred  |  Follow Me On Twitter @BlackAndGold277

Per RinkSideRhodeIsland.com founder Mark Divver below, Bruins prospect forward Jakub Lauko attended a pre-practice skate session presumably for the first time since his mid-season knee injury. Lauko, a former 2018 third-round selection of the National Hockey Leagues Boston Bruins only managed to appear in one shift for his native Czech Republic U-20 team that happened to host this year’s 2020 IIHF World Junior Championships from the beautiful cities of Ostrava and Trinec. It honestly doesn’t matter what time of any game or everyday life an injury happens it’s certainly unfortunate but 53 seconds into the game was all that was needed before being taken off the ice seeking medical attention.

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Lauko’s development since he was selected in the summer of 2018 has been exciting to watch but it’s also come with a few unlucky times concerning the injury bug. Now I’m not saying this is trending into a prone situation or to be high alerted by my opinions but he did get banged up in his rookie year in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League scoring 41 points in 44 games. During his first full season of North American hockey and smaller ice sheet the game comes, quicker and he did see time on the IR during the regular season and 2018-19 Memorial Cup Championship year for the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. Lauko has the capabilities to be a crafty fast forward and offensive threat on the scoresheet but his game also comes with a considerable amount of jam incorporated into his heavy style game.

This season with the American Hockey Leagues Providence Bruins the top minor-pro affiliate of the NHL’s Boston Bruins the 19-year-old versatile forward has appeared in only 18 games posting 4-4-8 since his return from NHL training camp. In his AHL rookies season, Jakub played some hard minutes learning the professional game grinding it out on the third and fourth line left side as higher seniority players get top-six roles. had an upper-body injury (shoulder) early in the campaign to return and spend another stint on the IR with another upper-body injury (concussion) in the video provided below that he suffered just before reporting to his Czech Republic team for the mentions WJC tourney.

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It’s good to hear that he’s back on the ice taking the appropriate steps to make a healthy return and his timing might be perfect as he tries to catch a Providence club who seems destined to make an eighth straight Calder Cup Playoff appearance.  This playoff consistency came off of three straight years without a postseason appearance but has certainly been a player dating back to when current Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy and now Providence bench boss Jay Leach hope to bring the city’s second Calder Cup since being organized in 1992. The franchises first and only AHL league championship came in the 1998-99 campaign.

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The Providence club sits in the third position in the Atlantic Division and fourth in the Eastern Conference with a 25-16-2-3 record and 55 points. The B’s only trail Conference-leading Hartford Wolf Pack by four points with 30 games remaining in the 2019-20 regular season. Judging by Divver’s “timeline” of a potential return of Lauko would put him back with the team around the middle of February and a little more than a month and a half of regular-season games to stretch the legs and regain some chemistry. Jakub is a tremendously fast player with high intelligence of making plays in tight areas and the offensive ability to possess the puck in full stride and break away cleanly with some pretty filthy hands at times finishing it off is always a welcome wagon offensively.

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Lauko is currently on year one of his three-year entry-level contract so there’s plenty of time to mold this young man to gain a little muscle and round out his overall game. Although, I heard he was tough to teach the North American two-way style game in the early season of his rookie year in the “Q” his knowledge grew stronger and how to be an effective 200-foot game forward was absorbed like a sponge leading him cracking the AHL roster after his time in the B’s NHL training camp. Jakub’s NHL expectations for me if you’re asking is at least two years away as this Boston organization has seemingly been comfortable at the patients of prospects and no rush tom insert said talent into the NHL lineup as soon as they leave the draft podium.

The Providence club gets back to work tomorrow night on the road in Binghamton, New York so get everything you need to know from our very own AHL Bruins writer Tim Richardson in his weekly Providence Bruins preview articles. Click HERE to read this week’s edition!