Mark Patrick Pederson (born January 14, 1968) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

coach and former professional

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who played 169 games in the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

. He is currently serving as head coach of German side

Augsburger Panther The Augsburger Panther are a professional ice hockey team in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. The team is based in Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany. They play their home games at the Curt Frenzel Stadion. Founded in 1878, the team's name was Augsburger EV ...

since 2021. Pederson was born in

Prelate, Saskatchewan Prelate ( 2016 population: ) is a village in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan within the Rural Municipality of Happyland No. 231 and Census Division No. 8. Located just of Highway 32 it is 12 km (8 miles) east of Leader and 146 ...

, but grew up in

Medicine Hat Medicine Hat is a city in Southern Alberta, southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately east of Lethbridge and southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff, Alberta, ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Playing career

Pederson was drafted 15th overall by the Canadiens in the

1986 NHL Entry Draft The 1986 NHL Entry Draft was the 24th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 21, 1986, at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec. The National Hockey League (NHL) teams selected 252 players eligible for entry into professional ranks, in the revers ...

. He spent played five seasons in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) for the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Wells ...

San Jose Sharks The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference, and are owned by San Jose Sports & Entertainm ...

and

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

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 EC Grand Immo VSV are an ice hockey team in the ICE Hockey League. They play their home games at Stadthalle (Villach), Stadthalle (capacity approximately 4500 spectators) in Villach, Austria. The team colors are blue and white. Their mascot is an ...

. In the following season (1996–97), he played for Färjestad BK in Sweden, before transferring to

Zürcher SC The Zürcher Schlittschuh Club Lions (ZSC Lions) are a professional ice hockey team located in Zürich, Switzerland, playing in the National League (NL). Their home arena is the 12,000-seat Swiss Life Arena. The team was founded in 1930 and play ...

of Switzerland. From 1997 to 2002, Pederson spent time in Germany, representing DEL teams

Hannover Scorpions The Hannover Scorpions are a professional ice hockey team, which plays in the Oberliga, Germany's third tier ice hockey league. They previously played in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga from 1996 to 2013. History Founded in 1975 as ESC Wedemark, the ...

Krefeld Pinguine The Krefeld Pinguine (Krefeld Penguins) are an ice hockey team in the DEL2. Their home ice is in Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany at the König Palast. Founded first in 1936 by Willi Münstermann, the pro team became a limited liability ...

and

Adler Mannheim The Adler Mannheim (English: ''Mannheim Eagles'', formerly Mannheimer ERC) is a professional ice hockey team of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, the highest-level ice hockey league in Germany. The team is based in Mannheim, a city in the northern pa ...

and won the German championship with the Adler squad in 2001. Pederson joined the

San Diego Gulls The San Diego Gulls are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that began play in the 2015–16 season. Based in San Diego, California, and affiliated with the National Hockey League's Anaheim Ducks, the Gulls play th ...

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 The Bakersfield Condors are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) based in Bakersfield, California. The team is owned by and affiliated with the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers. The Condors play their home g ...

from 2005 to 2009 and was the head coach of the

Tilburg Trappers The Tilburg Trappers are a professional ice hockey club based in Tilburg, The Netherlands. They previously played in the highest level ice hockey league in the country, but have been playing in the German Oberliga Nord since the 2015-16 season. ...

of the Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

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 The is an Asia League Ice Hockey team based in Nikkō, Tochigi, Japan. Logo design: The word IceBucks in italicized English in black with white trim, with the words "NIKKO KOBE" in bold italics in orange trimmed with white Mascot: An orange an ...

between 2010 and 2013. Pederson took over the head coaching job at

Esbjerg Energy The Esbjerg Energy is a Denmark, Danish professional ice hockey team based in Esbjerg, Denmark, playing in the Metal Ligaen, the top tier of Danish ice hockey. The club was founded in 2005 and play their home games in the Granly Hockey Arena which ...

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

, which was revealed later to be due to

antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

comments toward then-Condor Jason Bailey. In January 2011, Pederson was named in a lawsuit filed by Bailey's lawyer,

Keith Fink Keith Fink is an American attorney, author, and academic. He represented a business in a contract dispute with Ellen DeGeneres dubbed by the media as "Iggygate". In 2017, Fink became embroiled in a dispute with the University of California at L ...

, 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 Marty Raymond (born October 2, 1964) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player. Raymond is the current head coach for the Cotter Schools Rambler boys hockey program, scheduled to compete in the Minnesota State High School Leagu ...

. 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 ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including: ...

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

International

Awards

* WHL East First All-Star Team – 1987 * WHL East Second All-Star Team – 1988

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pederson, Mark 1968 births Adirondack Red Wings players Adler Mannheim players Canadian ice hockey left wingers Detroit Red Wings players EC VSV players Färjestad BK players Hannover Scorpions players Ice hockey people from Alberta Ice hockey people from Saskatchewan Kalamazoo Wings (1974–2000) players Krefeld Pinguine players Living people Medicine Hat Tigers players Montreal Canadiens draft picks Montreal Canadiens players National Hockey League first-round draft picks Sportspeople from Medicine Hat People from Rural Municipality Happyland No. 231, Saskatchewan Philadelphia Flyers players San Diego Gulls (ECHL) players San Diego Gulls (WCHL) players San Jose Sharks players Sherbrooke Canadiens players ZSC Lions players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Austria Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Germany Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Switzerland Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Sweden