After his defection, Nedvěd played one season for the
Seattle Thunderbirds of the
Western Hockey League and was drafted second overall by the
Vancouver Canucks in the
1990 NHL entry draft after scoring 145 points in 71 games. In
1992–93, he finished with 38 goals and 71 points, including a club record 15-game point-scoring streak. Prior to the
1993–94 season, Nedvěd became involved in a contract dispute with the Canucks, which resulted in a holdout. While holding out, Nedvěd obtained his Canadian citizenship and represented Canada at the
1994 Winter Olympics, winning a silver medal. His situation was resolved just before the NHL trade deadline, when he was signed by the
St. Louis Blues, with
Craig Janney ultimately awarded to the Canucks as compensation (and then dealt back to the Blues shortly after for
Jeff Brown,
Bret Hedican and
Nathan LaFayette). Nedvěd scored 20 points in 19 games, but the Blues were swept in the first round of the playoffs while the Canucks reached the
Stanley Cup Final. Nedvěd's stay was dealt to the
New York Rangers for the lockout-shortened
1994–95 season. He finished the year with 23 points in 46 games. For the
1995–96 season, Nedvěd was dealt to the
Pittsburgh Penguins. In Pittsburgh, Nedvěd would have the best years of his career on an offensive team featuring
Mario Lemieux,
Jaromír Jágr, and
Ron Francis. In his first year in Pittsburgh, he recorded career highs of 45 goals and 99 points and scored 20 points in helping the Penguins reach the conference finals. Included in that was a goal against the
Washington Capitals in quadruple-overtime, which at 79:15 of overtime was at the time the longest NHL game in 60 years. During the
1996–97 season, he finished with 33 goals and 71 points. Nedvěd missed the entire
1997–98 season due to another contract and spent most of the year with lower-level teams in the Czech Republic. He remained unsigned at the start of the
1998–99 campaign, instead suiting up with the
Las Vegas Thunder of the
IHL. The situation ended two months into the season when he was dealt back to the New York Rangers in a deal involving
Alexei Kovalev. Nedvěd ended up with less money (once the millions of dollars he had given up by missing a season were factored in) than had he accepted Pittsburgh's initial offer back in 1997, while at the same time he ended up missing an extended portion of the prime of his career and severely damaged his reputation around the league. Nedvěd's second stint in New York would be more successful than the first, and the six seasons he would spend with the Rangers represented the most stable portion of his career. Although the team missed the playoffs every year through this stretch, Nedvěd led the Rangers in scoring twice and finishing second on another occasion. In
2000–01, playing with
Jan Hlaváč and
Radek Dvořák – a trio dubbed the 'Czech Mates' – he had the second-best season of his career, finishing with 32 goals and 78 points. After the
2003–04 season, Nedvěd was dealt to the
Edmonton Oilers at the trade deadline. Although Edmonton failed to make the playoffs, Nedvěd scored 15 points in 16 games. Nedvěd signed with the
Phoenix Coyotes in 2004 and spent the
2004–05 NHL lockout with
HC Sparta Praha of the
Czech Extraliga. Returning to NHL action in
2005–06 with the Coyotes, he scored just two goals and 11 points in 25 games. He was dealt to the
Philadelphia Flyers, where he scored a further 14 points in 28 games and returned to the NHL playoffs for the first time since 1997. in 2006 At the start of the
2006–07 season, Nedvěd was placed on waivers on October 18 following a 9–1 loss to the
Buffalo Sabres, and was assigned to the
American Hockey League (AHL) for the first time in his career. After bouncing between the NHL and AHL for the next two months, Nedvěd was claimed on re-entry waivers by the
Edmonton Oilers. In Edmonton he finished the season with just two goals and 12 points in 40 games between Edmonton and Philadelphia. On July 19, 2007, Nedvěd signed a one-year contract to return to HC Sparta Praha. On July 31, 2008, Nedvěd, attempting to make an NHL comeback, was invited to the New York Rangers training camp on a tryout basis. He was released by the Rangers on September 26 and returned to the Extraliga, this time with his hometown
HC Bílí Tygři Liberec. On May 4, 2012, at age 40, Nedvěd returned to the
Czech Republic national team in the
2012 IIHF World Championship hosted in
Finland and
Sweden. On May 10, 2012, Nedvěd became the oldest Team Czech Republic player to score a goal in World Championship. He scored game-winning goal against Latvia at the age of 40 years, 6 months and 1 day. On January 6, 2014, Nedvěd was named to the Czech team for the
2014 Sochi Olympics. He played in five games as the Czech Republic finished sixth. On March 13, 2014, Nedvěd played his last career game with
Bílí Tygři Liberec in a 6–2 home loss against the
HC Vítkovice Steel. He officially announced his retirement after the game. ==Awards==