paul kariya (highest drafted player of asian descent, japanese canadian wasian) is my go to comp for shane and reading articles about paul you really get a feeling of how lonely and shy and isolated he was until he got teemu. it's hard to get a sense of how much of it was media narratives. lots of fans, media and even other players saying he's an easy target, not social, not worth his salary, overrated along with the microaggressions and racism which would be very similar to what shane faced.
I think Kariya is a good comp for Shane's social dynamics, but there is the wrinkle of Reid writing Shane to be the single most dominant hockey player of his generation (with Ilya his only competition, and Ilya nerfed himself) which Kariya (while very good) simply was not...
It's really like, what if Crosby had Kariya's social isolation.
I really get caught up in Shane's apparent total lack of mentorship. Now, I think this is at least in part a function of the sparseness of the writing moreso than a character choice (since Ilya also lacks a mentor? We really get very little insight on Ilya's years with the Bears other than his lack of friends by the end of his tenure).
But with Shane it's notable that it's deliberately called out that he lives alone due to the team being weird about him.
Compare Crosby, who lived with Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux for five years to help him transition into the league, or Macklin Celebrini, who's living with Sharks legend Joe Thorton for the same reason. Shane apparently showed up to the Voyageurs, either turned down the offer of being hosted by a Voyageurs veteran or didn't get one at all, and then was almost immediately was handed his C and his wingers and played like a robot for decade. He's depicted as an intensely lonely figure, and I think Hayden is a poor substitute for Teemu (thank god he gets to play with Ilya for the rest of his career).
A little tangent, but speaking of press narratives about Shane I think it's interesting in TLG how it's stated that it's the press that rakes Shane over the coals for the trip. The team apparently doesn't have his back, but I do think it makes sense for the press to be so fickle about Shane. Journalists like stories, and Shane being quiet and private and boring for a decade gave them nothing to write about. The most exciting thing he ever did was date a movie star for 3 months. I bet the Montreal press drummed up stories all the time about whether Shane was worth his salary or whether he was a secret diva or whatever just to get clicks, because he's a huge draw but it's not interesting to write "Shane Hollander does job, quietly goes home" for the 1,000th time.
The outing and the trip was fucking rumspringa for Montreal sports journalists.
