Pederson was drafted 15th overall by the Canadiens in the 1986 NHL Entry Draft. He spent played five seasons in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers, San Jose Sharks and Detroit Red Wings from 1989–90 until 1993–94. He saw action in a total of 169 NHL games, scoring 35 goals and 50 assists for 85 points. In 1995, he took his game overseas and signed with Austrian side Villacher SV. In the following season, he played for Färjestad BK in Sweden, before transferring to Zürcher SC of Switzerland. From 1997 to 2002, Pederson spent time in Germany, representing DEL teams Hannover Scorpions, Krefeld Pinguine and Adler Mannheim and won the German championship with the Adler squad in 2001. Pederson joined the San Diego Gulls in 2002 and had a three-year stint with the team. In the 2002-03 season, he led the Gulls to winning the Taylor Cup, while being named Playoff MVP and WCHL Forward of the Year. He retired following the 2004-05 season.
Coaching career
Pederson served a four-year stint as assistant coach of ECHL's Bakersfield Condors from 2005 to 2009 and was the head coach of the Tilburg Trappers of the Dutch Eredivisie in 2009-10, while also coaching the Serbian national team. After one season he left Tilburg and went to Japan where he acted as head coach of the Nikkō Ice Bucks between 2010 and 2013. Pederson took over the head coaching job at Esbjerg Energy prior to the 2013-14 season. After a runner-up finish in 2015, he guided the Energy to the Danish championship in 2016 and 2017.
Legal Troubles
Pederson was suspended for two weeks in 2009 for an "internal matter" while working as an assistant coach with the Bakersfield Condors, which was revealed later to be due to antisemitic comments toward then-Condor Jason Bailey. In January 2011, Pederson was named in a lawsuit filed by Bailey's lawyer, Keith Fink, alleging that his client faced "a barrage of anti-Semitic, offensive and degrading verbal attacks regarding his Jewish faith" from Pederson and head coach Marty Raymond. Pederson, in particular, was named in the suit as having approached Bailey on one occasion to state: "oh, I got a friend request from a dirty Jew." On January 27, ESPN.com released details of court documents filed by Fink and reported that the NHL is also now investigating. According to a report dated November 8, 2011, Bailey voluntarily filed a request to dismiss all claims of discrimination.
