Time for more Puck Talk, as it relates to the Game Changers Series.
Ilya in The Long Game is going through a mental health crisis and therefore is not really the most reliable narrator of his own life.
Ilya wasn't going to re sign with Boston. Period. No matter what happened at the cottage.
When Scott Hunter came out, Ilya realized that at least some of things he wanted were possible, but not in Boston.
In the book, Ilya sees Scott kiss Kip and feels like everything terrible in his life has been sucked away by a tornado
So much is still impossible. The rivalry. Russia. But the NHL had an out player now, and maybe that meant that he and Shane weren't hopeless after all.
Please remember, it is 2017 in the USA. Same sex marriage had only been legalised two years earlier, and Donald Trump was the sitting president and looking to roll back all kinds of freedoms.
The USA was clamping down on immigration, and homophobia was back on the rise.
Meanwhile in Canada, same sex marriage had been legal for over 10 years, LGBTQIA status was a protected class, and Canada was like "HEY IMMIGRANTS WE REALLY WANT YOU WE ARE SO EMPTY AND LONELY."
Canada had actively opposed the War in the Ukraine and was openly taking refugees from the conflict, and Canada had been granting refugee status based on sexual orientation since 1991.
If you were gay, Russian and liked hockey, Canada was your best bet.
Plus, check out our Prime Minister in 2017. Hot. And he was walking in the Pride Parade in Ottawa
Since everyone fucking forgets, Ilya brought up moving to a Canadian team when his contract ended, and the only team he wasn't considering was Montreal. Specifically because Montreal couldn't fucking afford him.
Ilya was never staying in Boston. And you need to give up your fanons for the show, guys (not fanfic, jist the show), because Ilya very specifically says Boston would not be so good about having someone like Harris (openly gay) on their staff. Ilya knows that, if he was outed, Boston Admin would not protect him.
I believe Cliff is an ally to Ilya too, because I love LoPresti, but in the books, there are no Boston players at the boys' wedding.
If Ilya is outed and the Raiders don't re sign him, Ilya loses his work visa. If he loses his work visa, he has to go back to Russia as an outed person, and we know he's not interested in seeing how that will turn out.
Ilya is coming to Canada NO MATTER WHAT.
If Shane and Ilya do the cottage and decide "meh, we are better fuck buddies than boyfriends" ILYA IS STILL COMING TO CANADA.
Ilya doesn't move teams FOR SHANE. He moves teams FOR HIMSELF.
Ilya doesn't move to Canada FOR SHANE. He moves to Canada FOR HIMSELF.
This is where a lack of hockey knowledge is a problem.
When Ilya was drafted, Boston was a shit team. Even with the new, mostly incomprehensible, draft lottery rules, you have to at least missed the playoffs to get the number one draft pick.
In 2003, Pittsburgh had 1st overall draft pick, and drafted Marc Andre Fluery. In 2004, Pittsburgh had 2nd overall draft pick and drafted Evgeni Malkin. In 2005, they had the 1st overall draft pick AGAIN (please believe me when I tell you the Penguins fucking suuuuuucked) and picked Sidney Crosby.
In 2006, Geno finally got to Pittsburgh.
In 2009, Pittsburgh won the cup.
In case that's not easy enough math, it took 2 first overall picks, 1 second overall pick, six years and the literal greatest hockey player of all time (and also Kris Letang) for Pittsburgh to get it's shit together enough to win a cup, but it did get to the semis for the first time in 2007, which is 2 years
I have gotten lost in the lore. Please hang on.
Okay! When Shane and Ilya are drafted, they are drafted to teams with long histories who have played like shit for three seasons prior to their draft. No playoffs.
Surprisingly, they both get their teams to the playoffs in their rookie season. But it takes Ilya three more years and Shane 4 more years to actually get their teams a cup.
Hockey is a team sport. The point of trades is to find perfect fits. Lines that work cleanly. Depth at centre, fast wingers, strong defense, superb goal tending
So taking years to get a team to cup contention is not surprising, no matter how many first round single digit draft picks you get (I'M LOOKING AT YOU PENS).
Amd even when you have a winning team, you still futz around every trade season to get the winningest team. You keep what's working and move what isn't.
And if you're the team Admin, you pray to fucking god your superstars don't choose free agency. And you do whatever the fuck you can to make sure that doesn't happen.
For instance, Alexander Ovechkin has had exactly four NHL contracts in his life. His three year ELC, then a fucking insane 13 year extension for absolutely ridiculous amounts of money and an NTC that took effect in 2014, then a 5 year that should have taken him to retirement. This year, for the first time in Ovi's 22 year career, he was a free agent entirely by his own choice. Washington isn't stupid; they know Ovi is their whole personality. They'll keep him as long as he wants to stay.
Pittsburgh did the same with Crosby. His latest contract was signed a full fucking year before his last contract expired.
All this to say, Boston would have been foaming at the mouth to keep Ilya (or they would have traded him rather than let him lapse into free agency without getting anything good in exchange) and Ottawa probably offered just absolute scads of money to sign him.
Under cap rules, one player on the team can be paid up to 20% of the overall cap.
I'm not saying Ottawa did that - they really are trying to do a rebuild, and you need cap space for that, you can't build a team on one good player, and good players cost money. But they probably offered at least 11% (what Ovi got) and probably more. And then they went to work. The old coach retired. They brought in Brandon Weibe. They picked up Hayes and Barrett for a song and they set to work building Ilya a team that could win a cup
We know in the books that Ilya goes to Ottawa for (presumably) a fat paycheck. We know players speculate why he'd go to a shit team.
But honestly, players move all the time. Sure, some stay loyal to their draft team their entire career but that is very rare. Most players are chasing cups or paychecks or family their entire careers.
And also, please ignore the players in the book who are like "Ottawa is terrible and ruining Ilya's legacy" AND I INCLUDE ILYA ON THE IGNORE LIST.
There are so many books in the Game Changers Series it's easy to forget that the bulk of the story of them take place between 2017 and 2021. Scott meets Kip in 2017.
TLG begins in 2019. Ilya enters a massive mental health crisis. Part of that crisis is depression and the depression is telling him he plays on a not very good team.
Please remember, ILYA IS DEPRESSED and part of depression is REWRITING HISTORY.
When Ilya tells Shane he gave up hockey for him already, Ilya has forgotten that moving to Canada and getting PAAAAID was part of the plan BEFORE. He forgets Ottawa wasn't just a good choice because Shane is nearby, it's a good choice because HE GOT STUPID RICH and also got a Canadian work visa and a team that will not drop him if he is outed, thereby securing said visa should Russia cancel Ilya's passport. With a work visa, Ilya has an easy path to citizenship, whether he marries Shane or not.
Ilya got an easier path to citizenship, a higher chance of being granted asylum if he is outed, and absolutely stupid amount of money, a team that genuinely supports him. HE ALSO SHANE, but Shane is NOT the best thing.
Ilya is depressed. He doesn't have a great sense of time. He feels like he's been playing like shit for approximately three aeons, when actually he's been playing extremely well, and Ottawa is slowly but surely climbing the ranks.
When the plane crash happens, it lights a fire under Ilya's ass (much like Sochi 2014) and Ilya "fucking FUCK SAN FRANCISCO" Rozanov re enters the narrative. Which means he gets to the semis a year earlier than he would have already.
Ilya is only in Ottawa for two years and they land the wildcard spot in the playoffs, and knock out the number one seed in their division, conference and the whole fucking league, in round one.
This is rare. Not impossible but rare. Calgary did the same in 2004. That's about all i can say about 2004 without commiting an idictable offense, so instead, here is a picture of Calgary Flames captain and my husband, Hockey Jesus Jarome Iginla because this is my thread and I do what I want.
When people say Ilya lost hockey for Shane, they are not reading the book critically, or have not taken the time to learn at least a little bit about fucking NHL hockey. Ilya has only missed play offs for I think two seasons. That is unprecedented for a team at the bottom of the standings. Literally half the teams in the league miss the playoffs every year. And the third year he's with Ottawa they go to round two.
I am very tired of the narrative that either Ilya or Shane have to give up hockey or their career or their legacy for each other.
Hockey is not the team you play on. Connor McDavid is the greatest player active now - yes better than Sid or Ovi, though not better than them in their prime. He plays on a not great team.
Jarome Iginla played for the Flames for 16 years and was hailed as the greatest player of his generation. He had his number retired by the Flames, was selected for the Hockey Hall of Fame the first year he was eligible, had all three of his kids play good enough hockey to be drafted by the NHL and the PWHL, and is still considered one of the greats by players and fans everywhere.
He never won a cup. But his legacy has not been tarnished by playing for a not so great team.
Frankly, going to Ottawa is the dream for both Shane and Ilya because playing on the same line in their fucking prime?
In the GCU, where the NHL isn't rigged and the Cup is decided by skill?
Barring season ending injuries, that cup isn't leaving Ottawa for the next seven years AT LEAST.
Rozanov, Dykstra and Chouinard on the PK? They'll never be able to touch another player again, no team wants that line on the ice, even if the opposing team has the man advantage.
Hollander, Rozanov, Barrett, Haas and Boodram on the PP? No team will ever play dirty against them, and give them the man advantage.
That team is so GOATed all other team's defensive lines including the goalies are all going on strike. They're calling Etsy witches for curses. They're finding snotty kids to cough on the Centaurs in the tunnel and praying they catch the flu.
Without divine intervention, no one is beating that team ever again.
Shane and Ilya gained EVERYTHING by going to Ottawa. Shane will get his seven cups. Ilya definitely gets at least three more dogs from Harris.
Ottawa is actually the fucking REWARD.
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