Just a little idea in thinking of.
So early in Ilya's rookie year Svetlana's dad hears Ilya's agent berating him and from context Vetrov can tell Ilya is also being stolen from. Vetrov knows Ilya's Russian agent by reputation as a man who cheats his young clients and tries to steer them back to Russia as well as skimming money. But Vetrov is still loyal to the Bears so he uses some backroom dealing and makes Ilya's Russian agent quit so Ilya is not going directly against his father when he changes representation.
His new agency has dealt with many international athletes so they quickly move Ilya from his temporary visa to a green card/permanent residence under EB-1A. They are able to fulfill enough of the requirements and their documentation is superb. Ilya gets luck with processing time and gets his green card in 2012. They continue to work and are working towards getting Ilya naturalized. His 5 year wait is up in the beginning of 2017. He waits until right after his father's funeral to complete everything. He quietly becomes a US citizen before Shane's concussion. He agrees to go to the cottage right then. But Shane doesn't remember Ilya saying yes well enough because of how doped up he was. At the cottage they don't have a Svetlana marriage conversation. Shane still thinks up the Irina Foundation but moving Ilya to a different team isn't in the plan. It's way more tailored to show how close friends the boys are and working on rehabbing Ilya's reputation.
