Relating to my other post, I find it actually rather annoying when folks insist that Ilya going to Ottawa somehow makes him "dependent" on Shane, or otherwise "shifts the power dynamic of their relationship."
That's complete nonsense.
Ilya is a grown man with his own career. He takes a temporary career hit to go to Ottawa, that's true. But it's not like anyone assumes that Ottawa's subsequent failures are his fault. He's still getting paid, either way, and if he really wanted to leave, he could probably find a way. (I think we also forget that Montreal and Boston would have been bad at the start too, if they had the 2nd and 1st draft picks.)
Ilya didn't need Shane to turn the Centaurs around to the point where they can make the playoffs and ultimately knock Montreal out of them. He didn't need Shane to make the Centaurs into the strong team that they are in TLG.
Ilya is also a grown man who, at least normally, is able to manage his social life. He left Cliff and Svetlana back in Boston, sure, but as I said in that another post, he's got a phone. He can pay for airline tickets. He's a millennial and millennials absolutely know how to manage long distance relationships. Hell, he and Shane have been managing for their entire career.
Ilya didn't need Shane to reach out to Scott Hunter, Ryan Price, and the other Game Changer protagonists who end up coaching at the camp. Ilya did that on his own.
Ilya didn't need Shane to befriend the Centaurs. He didn't need Shane to foster a good relationship with his coach. Shane isn't the reason that the Centaurs become people that Ilya feels comfortable enough with the idea of coming out to.
It is true that Yuna and David are a package deal with Shane. As much as they love Ilya, if Ilya and Shane split, Shane will probably get to keep his parents. But otherwise, every friendship Ilya makes, or could make in Ottawa is up to Ilya.
If Shane and Ilya split up in TLG, Ilya doesn't lose his ability, he doesn't lose his team, he doesn't lose his salary, he doesn't lose his friends (except probably Yuna and David). The Irina Foundation might be an interesting question, depending on how the paperwork is drawn up, but more likely they'd still operate it together.
(I'd actually be kind of interested in that AU...)
Ilya doesn't even lose out on residency or citizenship because he's been working in Canada all this time.
Ironically, the scenario where Ilya DOES end up dependent on Shane is any scenario where he stays in Boston and becomes a Canadian resident/citizen through marriage. (He could become a US citizen, of course, but that's a separate issue and at this time isn't something that he's said he wanted to do.)
Ottawa is a tough move, sure. But that's because moving is tough. Making a new home is tough. Making new friends is tough. Going from a good team to a bad team is tough.
But Ilya's not a child and he's not entering into an unequal relationship by doing this. Shane does not have any personal advantage over Ilya in this scenario (and as we soon see, he has his own personal issues going on.)
We don't need to infantilize either grown man in this relationship. They make their own choices.
