Cory Emmerton

Playing career

Cory Emmerton’s hockey journey began in Ontario, where he played minor hockey for the St. Thomas Travellers in the OMHA and the Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs in the Pavilion AAA league. The Kingston Frontenacs picked him in the fifth round, 89th overall, of the 2004 OHL Priority Selection. He earned a spot on the team out of training camp and, as a rookie, put up 17 goals and 21 assists over 58 games, ranking sixth in team scoring. The following season, Emmerton topped the Frontenacs with 90 points in 66 games, pushing the club into the playoffs for the first time since he arrived. Kingston fell in six games in the opening round, and Emmerton managed just two points, both goals. The Detroit Red Wings then selected him in the second round, 41st overall, of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.

Injuries limited Emmerton to 40 games in 2006–07, but he still finished fourth on the team with 66 points, and Kingston returned to the playoffs. He led the Frontenacs with five goals and seven points in five games, though they were again eliminated in the first round. Emmerton came back to Kingston for 2007–08 and was named captain, but the team soon fell out of playoff contention. In early December, he was traded to the Brampton Battalion in exchange for Justin Levac, Thomas Middup, second- and third-round picks in 2008, second- and third-round picks in 2009, and a sixth-round pick in 2010. At the time of the deal, Emmerton led the Frontenacs with 31 points in 24 games.

In his Brampton debut, he scored a goal and added two assists to help beat the league-leading Kitchener Rangers. Shortly after the trade, Emmerton tried out for Canada’s National Junior Team but was sent home after being diagnosed with infectious mononucleosis. He recovered and recorded 30 points in 30 regular-season games for Brampton, then added two assists in five playoff contests. After Kingston’s OHL playoff exit in 2007, Emmerton played two games with the Grand Rapids Griffins in the AHL playoffs, going pointless. He signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Red Wings on June 4, 2007. Following Brampton’s first-round playoff loss in 2008, Detroit again sent him to Grand Rapids, where he notched one assist in seven regular-season games.