He previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers.

The rival team's coach, Ravil Iskhakov, took note of both Zherdev and Babchuk, and invited the pair to further their development with the Elemash Elektrostal hockey club of the Russian Major League, to which they accepted together.

[6] As his game progressed and professional teams began to take notice, Elektrostal received offers from the likes of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, Ak Bars Kazan, and CSKA Moscow for Zherdev's services.

He would accept an invitation for Elektrostal to loan him to the latter team, CSKA, citing a desire to train under esteemed coach Viktor Tikhonov.

At the time, Columbus general manager Doug MacLean stated that the team had Zherdev ranked number one on their draft list.

He was the Blue Jackets' most potent offensive threat while Rick Nash recuperated from injury, and played most of the season on the team's first line.

In response, Blue Jackets General Manager Scott Howson and then-coach Ken Hitchcock met Zherdev in a "clean-the-slate" meeting.

[9] On July 2, 2008, Zherdev was traded by the Blue Jackets along with Dan Fritsche to the New York Rangers for defencemen Fedor Tyutin and Christian Bäckman.

After signing a one-year deal with HC Lev Praha in July 2013, Zherdev celebrated at the Barvikha Luxury Village hotel in Moscow where things turned violent, according to a Russian news report.

[14] Zherdev allegedly initiated a bar brawl at the hotel before crashing his Bentley Continental GT, which was later vandalized by locals who were outraged with his behaviour and scratched the words "scum", "bastard", and others into the vehicle's paint with nails.

Barvikha Luxury Village hotel staff also claimed Zherdev spent nights there with various women, prompting his wife, Eugenia, to file for divorce.

[17] After failing to score a goal in 16 games with the club, he was released by the team in mid-November before accepting a short-term deal with HC Severstal.

[23] After the successive deaths of a Bratislava player Boris Sádecký and the team's vice president, the club dissolved and did not play for the remainder of the season.