Mark Pederson

Mark Patrick Pederson (born January 14, 1968) is a Canadian ice hockey coach and former professional ice hockey left winger who played 169 games in the NHL. He is currently serving as head coach of German side Augsburger Panther since 2021.

Pederson was born in Prelate, Saskatchewan, but grew up in Medicine Hat, Alberta.

Playing career Pederson was drafted 15th overall by the Canadiens in the 1986 NHL entry draft. He spent played five seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) 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 (1996–97), 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 (Facebook) 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.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1983–84 Medicine Hat Tigers AAA AMHL 42 43 47 90 64 — — — — — 1983–84 Medicine Hat Tigers WHL 3 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 1984–85 Medicine Hat Tigers WHL 71 42 40 82 63 10 3 2 5 0 1985–86 Medicine Hat Tigers WHL 72 46 60 106 46 25 12 6 18 25 1986–87 Medicine Hat Tigers WHL 69 56 46 102 58 20 19 7 26 14 1987–88 Medicine Hat Tigers WHL 62 53 58 111 55 16 13 6 19 16 1988–89 Sherbrooke Canadiens AHL 75 43 38 81 53 6 7 5 12 4 1989–90 Montreal Canadiens NHL 9 0 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 1989–90 Sherbrooke Canadiens AHL 72 53 42 95 60 11 10 8 18 19 1990–91 Montreal Canadiens NHL 47 8 15 23 18 — — — — — 1990–91 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 12 2 1 3 5 — — — — — 1991–92 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 58 15 25 40 22 — — — — — 1992–93 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 14 3 4 7 6 — — — — — 1992–93 San Jose Sharks NHL 27 7 3 10 22 — — — — — 1993–94 Detroit Red Wings NHL 2 0 0 0 2 — — — — — 1993–94 Adirondack Red Wings AHL 62 52 45 97 37 12 4 7 11 10 1994–95 Kalamazoo Wings IHL 75 31 32 63 47 16 8 4 12 2 1995–96 EC VSV AUT 34 28 32 60 52 — — — — — 1996–97 Färjestad BK SEL 30 7 4 11 26 — — — — — 1996–97 Zürcher SC NLA 9 7 3 10 4 5 1 3 4 30 1997–98 Hannover Scorpions DEL 39 19 32 51 55 9 1 6 7 6 1998–99 Krefeld Pinguine DEL 50 21 27 48 40 4 3 1 4 4 1999–00 Krefeld Pinguine DEL 44 20 17 37 80 3 2 0 2 4 2000–01 Adler Mannheim DEL 42 7 7 14 16 11 3 5 8 4 2001–02 Hannover Scorpions DEL 54 18 10 28 32 — — — — — 2002–03 San Diego Gulls WCHL 60 39 33 72 34 12 6 10 16 2 2003–04 San Diego Gulls ECHL 70 44 37 81 38 3 2 0 2 0 2004–05 San Diego Gulls ECHL 48 13 21 34 34 — — — — — DEL totals 229 85 93 178 223 27 9 12 21 18 NHL totals 169 35 50 85 77 2 0 0 0 0

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1988 Canada WJC 7 1 2 3 4 Awards WHL East First All-Star Team – 1987 WHL East Second All-Star Team – 1988