Barry Pederson was born in Big River, Saskatchewan, but was raised on Vancouver Island in Nanaimo. His junior career started out with the hometown team Nanaimo Clippers, but he eventually played his way into the WHL with the Victoria Cougars.
Pederson was a high-profile centre that was ranked 11th by The Hockey News prior to the 1980 draft. He ended up being selected 18th overall by the Boston Bruins. After 9 games with Boston in 1980, Pederson returned to the Cougars as their captain for one more season.
Pederson was ready for the NHL in 1981-82 where he took the league by storm becoming the 5th rookie in NHL history to score 40+ goals. Even with 92-points that year, he did not win the Calder as he was runner-up to Dale Hawerchuk.
Pederson played 6 seasons with Boston and 4 of them were stellar. One non-stellar year was his first year, the second was in 1984-85 when he broke his knuckle in a pre-season fight and missed the start of the season. After playing 22-Games, he missed the remainder of the season due to finding a benign golf-ball-sized tumour in his shoulder. Doctors were forced to cut away part of Pederson’s shoulder muscle and there were concerns the surgery could end his career. Prior to this surgery, Pederson was as highly ranked as some of the high-profile future Hall-of-Famers at the time like Denis Savard, Ron Francis, & Hawerchuk.
Post injury, Pederson persevered and played a full-season the following year amassing 76-points in 79-games. Although it was a decent year given the circumstance, it was a 40-point drop compared to his peak season. In the summer, he became a part of the Vancouver Canucks through a blockbuster trade that saw Cam Neely and a 1987 1st round pick go the other way.
Pederson’s tenure with Vancouver was only 4-seasons, but he was near a P/GP and won the media & fan-vote for MVP in 1986-87 when he had 76-points in 79-games and finished 2nd in team-scoring.
Injuries derailed Pederson’s tenure with Vancouver and the constant comparison to Cam Neely made him an unfair target. Just 16-games into the 1989 season, he was traded to Pittsburgh where he was most notably sidelined with a broken collarbone in 1989 after being checked by Scott Stevens. He played 3 additional seasons in the NHL, but never surpassed 50-games and officially retired in 1992.
Yellow jersey enjoyer Barry Pederson
Can’t believe management at the time basically gave up on Cam Neely as he was going through a sophomore slump and traded him AND a 1st round pick for Pederson who only scored in Boston somuch cuz he had ” Nifty” Rick Middleton setting him up.
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45. Barry Pederson — 233GP | 60G | 137A | 197P | 1987-1990
Barry Pederson was born in Big River, Saskatchewan, but was raised on Vancouver Island in Nanaimo. His junior career started out with the hometown team Nanaimo Clippers, but he eventually played his way into the WHL with the Victoria Cougars.
Pederson was a high-profile centre that was ranked 11th by The Hockey News prior to the 1980 draft. He ended up being selected 18th overall by the Boston Bruins. After 9 games with Boston in 1980, Pederson returned to the Cougars as their captain for one more season.
Pederson was ready for the NHL in 1981-82 where he took the league by storm becoming the 5th rookie in NHL history to score 40+ goals. Even with 92-points that year, he did not win the Calder as he was runner-up to Dale Hawerchuk.
Pederson played 6 seasons with Boston and 4 of them were stellar. One non-stellar year was his first year, the second was in 1984-85 when he broke his knuckle in a pre-season fight and missed the start of the season. After playing 22-Games, he missed the remainder of the season due to finding a benign golf-ball-sized tumour in his shoulder. Doctors were forced to cut away part of Pederson’s shoulder muscle and there were concerns the surgery could end his career. Prior to this surgery, Pederson was as highly ranked as some of the high-profile future Hall-of-Famers at the time like Denis Savard, Ron Francis, & Hawerchuk.
Post injury, Pederson persevered and played a full-season the following year amassing 76-points in 79-games. Although it was a decent year given the circumstance, it was a 40-point drop compared to his peak season. In the summer, he became a part of the Vancouver Canucks through a blockbuster trade that saw Cam Neely and a 1987 1st round pick go the other way.
Pederson’s tenure with Vancouver was only 4-seasons, but he was near a P/GP and won the media & fan-vote for MVP in 1986-87 when he had 76-points in 79-games and finished 2nd in team-scoring.
Injuries derailed Pederson’s tenure with Vancouver and the constant comparison to Cam Neely made him an unfair target. Just 16-games into the 1989 season, he was traded to Pittsburgh where he was most notably sidelined with a broken collarbone in 1989 after being checked by Scott Stevens. He played 3 additional seasons in the NHL, but never surpassed 50-games and officially retired in 1992.
Yellow jersey enjoyer Barry Pederson
Can’t believe management at the time basically gave up on Cam Neely as he was going through a sophomore slump and traded him AND a 1st round pick for Pederson who only scored in Boston somuch cuz he had ” Nifty” Rick Middleton setting him up.