Screen Shots: Connor Bedard, Jaromir Jagr and Carolina Hurricanes

Once again, welcome back to Screen Shots, a regular THN.com file in which we examine a few different hockey topics, and write about them in a few short paragraphs. Let’s get to it:

Eighteen-year-old phenom Connor Bedard broke out in a big way Thursday, with a four-point night against Tampa Bay. In doing so, he set a modern-day record as the youngest player to put up four points; the previous time an 18-year-old generated four points was in 1944, when 'Bep' Guidolin did it as a member of the Boston Bruins.

Bedard has played a dozen games at the NHL level, and his four-point night against the Bolts gives him seven goals and 11 points in that span. Certainly, the bar has been set sky-high for him entering the season, but really, consider how quickly he’s acclimated to hockey’s top league. Imagine being at your job and having your boss expect you to be at your best just 12 days after you were hired. Most, if not all of us, would need far more time than that to start shining, but Bedard already is producing at nearly a point-per-game pace. That’s astonishing.

The hard truth is that dozens of young players – many of whom are two or three years older than Bedard is now – have a problem adjusting to being an average NHLer, let alone an elite one. This is why Bedard was the overwhelming choice by pundits to win the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie. 

There’s still a long way to go this season, and nobody is demanding we give him the Calder now, but the way he’s playing, we sure can pencil him in for the honor.

Congratulations to legendary winger Jaromir Jagr, who got the news this week the Pittsburgh Penguins will retire his number. It was really only a matter of time before the Pens did so, and this brought back to mind the time I interviewed him for a THN cover story in January 2012. At the time, Jagr was a Philadelphia Flyer, and his 40th birthday was looming. But he had already gained a lot of wisdom, not just as an elite player, but as a human being.

“If you compare what you’re doing with your life to something else, what you’re comparing it to could be only your imagination,” Jagr told me when I asked him about leaving the NHL and playing in the KHL in 2008. “If you think it could be better somewhere else, you’re never going to be satisfied. But if you say, ‘It could be a lot worse if I didn’t do what I’m doing now’, then you’re always happy. That’s what I’ve learned – whatever you’re doing, that’s the best thing you could do. It’s up to you how you’re going to control your brain.”

Wise words indeed. Jagr became an unofficial ambassador for the game while he was still playing in the NHL and playing at his home in Czechia. He was always a big kid from the first time we saw him, but as he gets older, he gets more and more grateful, and that's a big reason why fans have gravitated to him. Even if you weren't a fan of the teams he played for, you could be a fan of him. And the Pens will celebrate him for that.

Finally, Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce returned to the lineup Friday, and his presence on the defense corps gives the Canes a wealth of above-average blueliners.

With Carolina’s offense not among the best in the league – they’re currently tied for 14th overall at a goals-for-per-game average of 3.29 – their abundance of defensemen could be used to bring in an established veteran scoring threat. It doesn’t have to be Pesce who gets moved, but because he will be a UFA this summer, he’s a likely candidate to land in a new home.

In a seller’s market, Pesce will get a raise from some franchise – maybe the Hurricanes, but maybe a team like the Toronto Maple Leafs – as his current salary of $4.025 million is a bargain. Carolina has enough cap space to retain his services beyond this season, but if they’re more focused on having a better balance between their forwards and D-men, there’s a strong possibility the Hurricanes will move on from him.