The Boston Bruins have made a smart decision loaning forward prospect Jakub Lauko to a team in his native Czech Republic in lieu of the AHL being an option.
Right now, the AHL is offering a tentative start date in December 2020, while Boston Bruins prospect Jakub Lauko was given an opportunity to play for HC Energie Karlovy Vary, who have scheduled fixtures this month and next.
Given the state of flux the COVID-19 pandemic has placed countless sports leagues in, not least a league like the AHL which relies heavily on gate receipts, it makes logical sense that teams like the Boston Bruins seek alternative arrangements for their prospects.
In some cases, this will mean keeping players in junior programs when they might have earned a graduation to the AHL. For overseas-born players, it may be a case of loaning them out, as is the case here, to teams in Europe.
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Jakub Lauko now doesn’t sit around idly waiting for the AHL season to start, rather he now gets to play competitive hockey and be in an environment that actually benefits his hockey development. After all, he is one of the Bruins’ leading forward prospects.
Last year with the Providence Bruins, he grabbed 5 goals and tallied 4 assists across 22 games. Those may not be the biggest returns, but he’s still growing and learning the North American professional game, so we’d argue that a rate of just under 0.5 points per game wasn’t half bad.
In terms of the team that he’s going to, it’s a town about 2 hours away from the country’s capital, Prague. The team plays in the highest league in the country, the Czech Extraliga and have been around since 1932.
Former Nashville Predators and Florida Panthers goaltender Tomas Vokoun is likely the most talented player to come out of the town, with 300 NHL wins to his name.
There’s every chance that Jakub Lauko returns to the Boston Bruins’ affiliate in Providence once the AHL season has a definite start date but in the interim, he’s playing hockey for a team that will compete at a strong enough level to represent a good challenge.
The hope is that the Boston Bruins can find more of these loan-type scenarios for various other prospects, ensuring that nobody returns to action truly out of game-shape.
It really depends on developments in regard to resuming AHL competition, as well as the willingness of teams overseas to agree to such deals that may see them get a player for only a half-season.