Wild giving Jakub Lauko his chance to rebrand

Jakub Lauko wears his “Lord of the Rings” fandom on his sleeve, literally.

After watching the movies, reading the books and collecting the gaming cards as a kid in Czechia near the German border, Lauko had the characters tattooed on his left arm. He also has “Game of Thrones” and Harry Potter depicted.

“Fantasy arm,” Lauko called it.

Then there’s his intermission routine: Lauko eats grapes. (Green is his preference.)

He brings the fruit to the rink and goes through a bag every game. Lauko even had past teammates join him for a bite, Lauko acting like a parent passing out orange slices at halftime of a youth soccer game.

Already, his new Wild teammate Frederick Gaudreau has asked Lauko to share.

“I might become a grape dealer again,” he said.

But a distinct look and in-game snack are not all the forward is bringing to the team after an off-season trade.

Lauko is looking to show he’s more than a gritty depth player, and the Wild are giving him the chance to rebrand.

“I was very happy with a change of scenery,” Lauko said. “It’s a breath, a fresh start for myself, and I just want to establish myself [in] a different role.”

The Wild added Lauko in a draft weekend trade with Boston in June, sending Vinni Lettieri to the Bruins in a swap of former teammates.

Lettieri and Lauko played together for Boston’s minor-league team in Providence and when they talked about the trade after the fact, Lettieri offered Lauko a place to stay: Lauko is living in Lettieri’s St. Louis Park home.

“I was super excited to come here,” said Lauko, who found out about the trade while he was at a European film festival. “I was happy with the change.”

Still, the news shocked Lauko, who didn’t even consider a trade a possibility. But after three-and-a-half seasons in the American Hockey League — he didn’t break in full-time with the Bruins until last season — Lauko gets to start over.

“I just felt the last few months in Boston I was stuck in one place with no big chance to move [around] the lineup or move from the same spot that I’ve been for past couple months,” he said.

Lauko wasn’t in action on Friday night at Xcel Energy Center when the Wild debuted more of their veterans in an 8-5 preseason win against a young Jets lineup that featured seven second-period goals by the Wild.

Kirill Kaprizov (twice on the power play), Ben Jones (shorthanded), Joel Eriksson Ek (twice), Mats Zuccarello, Liam Ohgren and Marat Khusnutdinov (shorthanded) scored, while Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 36 shots.

But it’s clear what will be expected of Lauko.

He’s a fourth-line winger who can irritate the other team and as Lauko put it, “give you three or four hits per game.”

Last season, he fought then-Wild forwards Connor Dewar and Brandon Duhaime in games just days apart. The former fight came in the first game Lauko was cleared to drop the gloves after getting a skate to the face months earlier.

“Those three months were kind of boiling up in me, so I had to let it out a little bit,” Lauko said. “And I had my friends, who were UFC fighters from Boston, they were coming to the game. So, I was like, ‘OK, guys, I’m going to fight for you and there’s no way I’m going to lose that fight.’”

What Lauko wants to show more of, though, is his offensive skill.

That’s what he worked on over the summer, getting himself into scoring positions and refining his shot.

“I want to get into those dirty scoring areas where I can produce more and just be more effective in the offensive zone than I was last year and still be the same player I was last year,” said Lauko, who is coming off a two-goal, 60-game campaign. “I think I had pretty good defensive numbers, but I want to produce and be more efficient up front.”

Based on his preseason performance so far, those are realistic targets for the 24-year-old.

He has a goal in each of his two appearances, and his speed is better than the Wild anticipated. On the bench, Lauko is talkative and energetic, exuding the personality the Wild felt they needed more of.

Aside from his “Lord of the Rings” affinity, Lauko played every sport imaginable growing up in the Czechia countryside in a village with only 200 residents.

His dad, Roman, has worked in hockey for 25-plus years, and their attic had a floor hockey setup for the winter. Lauko knew he was better than most, but there were still players more talented than him. The turning point came when he started playing with pros at 15 and 16.

Boston went on to draft him in the third round in 2018, but Lauko never thought hockey would take him on the journey it has.

“I’m here,” he said, “and I’m just so grateful to be where I am right now.”