[8][9] Emery committed to hockey on the advice of his mother,[9] after a potential scholarship during his pursuit for higher education pushed him to take advantage of his athletic ability.

[8] In 2002–03, Emery joined the Binghamton Senators of the American Hockey League (AHL) and immediately assumed the position of starting goaltender for his first professional season with the team.

[11] Emery was suspended twice for on-ice incidents in the same season, once for bumping a referee which resulted in a three-game suspension;[8] the second time for an altercation with Denis Hamel of the Rochester Americans who admitted uttering a racial slur.

[8] In March of the same season, Emery won twelve games, tying Bernie Parent's 1974 record for the most wins in a month.

Emery was the starting goaltender for the rest of the season, leading the Senators to the second round of the 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs.

[13] After the 2005–06 season, the Senators opted not to bring back Hašek, instead acquiring Martin Gerber to compete with Emery for the starter position.

In total, Emery received 22 penalty minutes (two five-minute majors for fighting, a two-minute minor for leaving the crease and the 10-minute game misconduct) for this altercation.

[5] Then-teammate Brian McGrattan opined that if Emery were a position player and not a goalie, he would likely rank among the top five fighters in the NHL.

[19] Emery's strong play in the season continued in the playoffs, as the Senators defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins, New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres each in five-game series in the first three rounds en route to their first Stanley Cup Finals appearance since the team was founded in 1992, where the Senators ultimately lost to the Anaheim Ducks in five games.

[20] He became a restricted free agent after the end of the season and filed for salary arbitration, later agreeing to a three-year deal with the Senators worth CA$9.5 million before the hearings were held.

[24] Emery signed a one-year, $2 million contract with Atlant Moscow Oblast of the newly formed Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) on July 9, 2008.

In March 2010, Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren announced[31] that Emery would be out for the remainder of the season due to the diagnosis and that a bone graft would be carried out.

[32][33] Doctors were able to catch the disease before it spread, unlike the case of baseball and American football player Bo Jackson.

"[34] Unlike Jackson, who required numerous hip replacements, Emery had the benefit of advancements in modern medicine, undergoing a very specialized and complex procedure that involved removing 13 centimetres from his right fibula, and then grafting it to the femur to re-introduce a proper blood supply to the area.

In November 2010, TSN visited Emery during an on-ice workout and were surprised to see him get down into the butterfly position and play for the first time since surgery.

[36] In January 2011, Emery began skating with an OHL team, taking shots and training with Eric Lindros,[37] and working with personal trainer Matt Nichol and goalie coach Eli Wilson.

[1] In March 2011, Emery's injury and undefeated return to the NHL with the Anaheim Ducks garnered much media attention and fascination, with a special segment featured on CBC's Hockey Night in Canada.

Emery made his Ducks debut on March 11, 2011, to a standing ovation against the Phoenix Coyotes when he replaced goaltender Dan Ellis.

[44] Emery won six straight starts to open his Anaheim career, falling one shy of matching the Ducks' record for consecutive wins by a goaltender, held by Guy Hebert.

[46] Emery led the Ducks into the playoffs, finishing tied for fourth in the league and posting a 7–2–0 record with 2.28 GAA and .926 save percentage in ten regular-season NHL appearances.

Emery was again nominated, this time by the Blackhawks, for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, honouring dedication and perseverance although he didn't make the final three by the NHL.

[62] On September 8, 2015, the Tampa Bay Lightning announced that Emery would be attending training camp on a PTO (professional tryout).

[67] On February 5, 2016, Emery signed with Adler Mannheim of the German elite league Deutsche Eishockey Liga for the remainder of the season,[68][69][70] thus ending his professional tryout with the Marlies.

Emery was a boxing fan and had images of Joe Frazier, Bernard Hopkins, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Mike Tyson[75] and the fictional Rocky Balboa on his helmets.

[76][83] In 2011, Emery stated that he had learned from his past mistakes and that he had undergone anger management classes as well as eight weeks of behavioural counselling.

[84] In March 2007, Emery was charged after a minor crash while heading to the airport; the accident forced him to miss a team-chartered flight to a road game.

His body was found at about 2:50 pm that same day, about 18 metres (20 yd) from where he went into the water, according to Hamilton Police, who referred to the incident as a "case of misadventure".

[87] The search for Emery took longer than anticipated due to unspecified safety concerns for the dive team before they could enter the water.

[89] On July 16, Keshia Chanté penned an emotional tribute[90] to Emery, stating that she was "heartbroken" and that he was "a superhero" who was "loving, affectionate, intelligent, hilarious, giving".

Among those present were his close friend Jason Spezza, who was a teammate in Ottawa and was playing for the Stars at the time, and Chanté, who sang the national anthems.