Pederson and star winger Rick Middleton had instant chemistry, and would be one of the league's most dangerous duos for several seasons.

He led the Bruins in assists and points, and finished fifth in league scoring (the only player in the top eight not to eventually make the Hockey Hall of Fame).

At this point Pederson, despite being only 23, was on par with players such as Denis Savard, Michel Goulet, Ron Francis and Hawerchuk, all of whom went on to the Hall of Fame.

For the 1986–87 season, he finished with 24 goals and a team-leading 52 assists for 76 points, and was named Canuck MVP by both the team's media and fans.

He remains one of only four players in Canuck history (along with André Boudrias, Thomas Gradin and Henrik Sedin) to record consecutive 50-assist seasons.

Now primarily a utility player, he appeared in just 46 games in 1990–91, but was a member of the Penguin team that won the Stanley Cup Championship that year.

To the offense-starved Vancouver Canucks, who were the third-lowest scoring team in the league the previous year, he looked like a saviour and had the added attraction of being a 'local boy' - while originally from Saskatchewan, he had played his junior hockey nearby in Nanaimo and Victoria from the age of 15 onward.

However, Boston management were convinced that, despite Pederson's age, his best years were behind him as a result of two surgeries during the 1984–85 season to remove a tumour from his shoulder.

However, Boston coveted his size and toughness, and considered him a potential heir apparent to Bruin players of the past such as Terry O'Reilly and Wayne Cashman.

By the 1989–90 season, he was the most feared power forward in the game, as respected for his natural scoring touch as for his ferocious fighting ability.