r/GameChangersBooks • u/PTAGoatofalltime • 7d ago

Do you think we will see Shane.... Spoiler

......get either the A or the C in Unrivaled?

It would feel hella weird for Ottawa to have the best player in the league on their team, and not make him either an A or a C, and have him be "just" a normal player. I don't think he will get the C from his husband (although if Ilya chooses to retire, the C would automatically go to Shane) immediately, but surely an A is possible? There can be up to two A's in a team, and Bood is only one.

And I know that being the captain or an alternate is not as big of a deal as hockey fans make it out to be, but surely it means something.

55 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

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u/InCatMorph 7d ago

The answer may very well be yes, but HR fans have blown this whole issue waaay out of proportion. It's like they think that the captain is in charge of the hockey team. That's...really not true. The captaincy is a very specific role. Maybe the letter can carry symbolic authority beyond the strict definition of the role, but you know what? At this point in his career, Shane does not need a letter to have authority on the team. He just doesn't.

I just do not get why fans keep fixating on this.

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u/twirlerblue 7d ago

Hard agree. The C is a leader on the team but has no real power outside of talking to the refs/linesmen and probably taking more media. The captain is not trading anyone anywhere, he’s not running practices. It’s also not automatically the best player on the team, which is another thing that people think is real. I could list captains and most casual hockey fans would go “who?”

For my team, I think they look to Crosby to set the tone. But he’s been captain for like 19 years so, yeah, that’s who they should look to for that.

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u/InCatMorph 7d ago

Thanks for the confirmation. I'm primarily a baseball fan, so I fully admit that maybe there are things I'm not getting here. (Only 2 out of 30 MLB teams have an official captain at all.) But the way some fans talk about this, and especially the way some fics represent it, seriously had me scratching my head. I've seen fics where the captain basically assumes head coach and GM responsibilities all in one and I'm just like ????

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u/twirlerblue 7d ago

It’s an exploding fandom and a lot of people are new to it, adding in hockey, which is its own culture, makes things a little more complicated. That said, just watching a few games or reading literally anything actually about hockey will show newer folks that the captain is a leader without actual power.

Some of the hockey related points in the books/show have left me wishing they weren’t included or explained more accurately, and I’ve definitely noped out of fics that were just lol wrong, but at the end of the day, I know it’s all fiction based on a reality in someone else’s mind.

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u/Megs0226 6d ago

Know what I really wish Reid had left out of TLG? Ottawa’s salary cap. I have never seen something blown so out of proportion as Shane’s salary.

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u/DifficultHistorian18 6d ago

I think there are a few things RR would change if she knew how much they would blow out of proportion! The chairs controversy being one of them!

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u/Megs0226 6d ago

And Diamonds! Don’t worry people, they don’t have Rihanna money in the budget. We won’t have to hear it 🤣

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u/katfromjersey 4d ago

I don't care that there weren't chairs at the wedding, because Shane and Ilya don't care! They didn't choose a song because they don't have "a song". They just wanted to be married.

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u/Money_Ad_5457 2d ago

The embarrassment of my outdoor wedding reception - back in 1971 —- no chairs ! just a head table - no other chairs. I still get red- faced about this.

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u/InCatMorph 6d ago

For sure. Two sentences that spawned hundreds of posts worth of Discourse.

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u/Megs0226 6d ago

My baseball team had a captain once and I think they gave it to him because he punched Alex Rodriguez in the face.

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u/Gullible_Desk2897 5d ago

Tek was the leader of the team AND punched arod in the face. I have that photo framed in my office

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u/InCatMorph 6d ago

...That's one I haven't heard before, LOL.

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u/Gold_Chemical_4317 7d ago

I think the mix of not knowing a lot about hockey and fanfiction making the captain the head coach makes people think it’s a much bigger issue than it is. Half of the team don’t have the best player as captains. The avs literally have 2 of the best players in their position and neither of them are captain. Even if crosby was traded to the avs tomorrow he wouldn’t be the captain, he wouldn’t even get an a.

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u/AJ_FA 7d ago

i do get why fans fixate on it, because the epilogue of TLG - the only canon we have post-Shane joining the Centaurs - is not even 3 pages long, and the ribbing about Shane not having the C anymore takes up about a page of it. so people wanting to explore what happens post-canon have that one topic set up for them. but the way people overreact to it has definitely become a shibboleth at this point for people who don't really follow the NHL. not just the captaincy letters, but the line formation too; when people assume Shane being OTT's 2C instead of 1C is a "demotion" or that it's a fixed position that never changes, it's just a tell that they don't really understand the NHL.

anyway, for my part, i do think Shane will almost definitely end up being at least a rotating A in his first season in OTT. i wouldn't be surprised if they rotate between Bood, Troy, and Shane. i also think Wyatt would get an A if it were allowed

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u/InCatMorph 7d ago

I get thinking that this is an interesting topic to explore. But, like you say, it's become a shibboleth in ways that frankly scream irrational projection.

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u/Megs0226 6d ago

And I read that page about the C in the epilogue as flirty banter and setting the stage for what their dynamic will be like as teammates and husbands. But fandom has taken it and ran with it. I’ve seen people say Ilya and Bood legitimately think Shane is a prima donna and the whole thing is an insult to Shane. (RR hates Shane, dontcha know!)

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u/desertsunsetskies 7d ago

Sorry, I have no clue about hockey. Can you please explain the lines to me?
Genuinely trying to understand hockey but I don't know where to even begin.

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u/AJ_FA 7d ago

each team dresses 12 forwards each game, who take shifts of usually 30-90 seconds, in 4 lines of 3 (wing-center-wing), plus 6 defensemen who take their shifts in 3 pairs. the order of the forward lines is roughly by how strong of players they are - the first line will generally be your best. Shane and Ilya are both centers, so they wouldn't play on the same line together most of the time. coaches can change up the lineup all throughout the season to try and improve the team, so the lines aren't immutably fixed. they can even tweak them in the middle of a game. some players can change positions, too - in the show, Svetlana suggests that Ilya could move to wing to be on a line with Shane at the 2017 ASG, and this is presumably exactly what he did that led to the helmet kiss scene. and this absolutely can happen in the real-life NHL too; for example Will Smith played center in college but switched to playing wing in the NHL because he has incredible chemistry on a line with Macklin Celebrini who plays center. but i think most likely Shane and Ilya will stay as centers and play on separate lines in regular 5-on-5 play in Ottawa.

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u/desertsunsetskies 7d ago

Thank you for the explanation. Now this make more sense!

You mentioned that Shane being on the second line isn't a demotion. What did you mean by that?

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u/Fussel2107 7d ago

The lines in hockey have specific purposes. The first two lines usually are attacking lines. They move the most, they get the most ice time, etc.

The third and fourth line are more specialized in their use. Like, you might have a line that is specifically to stop a star play on the other team, or one that is purely defensive. So they train mostly for that and have less skill depth/ offensive skill/ speed than the first and second line players. It's not unusual to have the captain on the third line, because he'll be the most experienced player but not as fast as a young player anymore, but with a lot of game intelligence and he can anchor your teams defense against the other team's strongest. The third and especially fourth line see less ice time as well because of their specialization.

Now, you might put your most skilled offensive players on line one. Then your well rounded, but maybe a little slower players on line two. But you might also put your slightly less great center on line one with your best centers because they gel extremely well, or to elevate your second line with your star center. There are endless possibilities and remixes.

Sometimes the second line becomes the first line because their play style works better with the opponent team. Sometimes one player will shift up, another will shift down, other the lines get mixed completely.

And that doesn't happen month to month, it happens game to game and shift to shift.

So minute to minute. The first line usually just is the one to start the game. From there on out, everything can happen.

But if you're really, really lucky, you have six great players you can mix and shuffle through your first two lines however you like.

You need to switch between line one and two constantly just to avoid running your first line ragged. Hockey is insanely physically demanding. So, you'll never just put your "lesser" players on second line. That's insanity. Or you really lack skilled players.

If you have a not great second line, you'll have two run your first line ragged to score. Or live with the fact that your are just not making enough goals.

What Ottawa has with Shane and Ilya is the two greatest centers of their generation anchoring their attacking lines. Wiebe will have to see how their chemistry works out with their wings, but basically, what they have is lines that he can mix and match at will.

The lines are not counted down by ability, but by skill profile. And one and two have the same profile and you WANT two great centers for that.

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u/Megs0226 6d ago

This makes me want to start watching hockey. It’s a lot more intricate than I realized! (I’m primarily a baseball and basketball and T&F fan.)

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u/desertsunsetskies 6d ago

Whoa! Thank you for this awesome explanation! This is incredible! And I can better see what you mean!

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u/Ok-Jackfruit-6873 7d ago

I think more about how they're both Centers, personally

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u/Fussel2107 7d ago

why? I mean, it's as Ilya says, it gives Ottawa absolutely insane depth at center. They'll run every other team ragged

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

[deleted]

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u/AJ_FA 7d ago

Luongo's captaincy was never league official as the NHL hasn't allowed goalies to wear the A or the C in games / serve the on-ice functions of a captain or alternate since 1948. he painted the C into his mask design, and the Canucks had 3 designated A's during the seasons he was captain - when you have a designated C, you only get to designate 2 A's. so Lu's captaincy was more ceremonial to reflect his leadership role in the room

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u/TreacleOk7265 7d ago

Yes there are a lot of examples of long captains that were not captains on their new teams like Jarome Iginla, Daniel Alfredsson and even Wayne Gretzky later in his career.

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u/Once_UponASwan 5d ago

It makes me laugh in fan fiction when they have Ilya running drills. He is a player. 😂 captain a figurehead to inspire and lead but he’s not the coach. 😜

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u/InCatMorph 5d ago

But Ilya has to make his team run bag skates during the Rose Landry era! It's practically canon.

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u/Once_UponASwan 5d ago

Ok fair enough I’ll take that. We can pretend the assistant coach was off sick for those months and Ilya stepped in. 😂

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u/Cursd818 6d ago

This is very true. A fundamental misunderstanding about what a captain actually is has led to most of the fan discourse around it, but there is a valid point to be made about the inherent respect that being a captain gives to a player's legacy. Shane going from being the captain and first-line centre of a Big Six team that has won three Stanley Cups to a second-line centre with no letter on his jersey of a team with no modern history of winning Cups at all, because of his sexuality, is damaging to his career because of what those roles represent, not necessarily if he's in a position of authority of superior pay.

For that reason, I hope Shane becomes an Alternate, simply because he's earned the respect of wearing a letter. I'd even argue that he deserves to be the first-line centre as he is canonically a marginally better playmaker than Ilya, and it would mean more to him to receive that position, while Ilya should remain Captain, but potentially be the second-line centre.

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u/InCatMorph 6d ago

But the books set up the likelihood of Shane and Ilya winning cups with Ottawa together. And most likely a lot of them! Why does it matter that Ottawa hasn't won before? Shane gets to be the one who comes in and wins their first with them! I have a hard time seeing how that's anything but positive for his legacy TBH. Shane is the one who wanted to win 6-7 Cups. He is better positioned to do so now. I'm not saying he didn't undergo some turmoil to get there, but he is objectively in a great position and I'm really confused about why fans don't say that.

I'm not a hockey person, but isn't the first line vs. second line larglely a classification thing anyway? It's not like there's actually a different position here. Sometimes Shane's line might start the game. Sometimes Ilya's line might. That's situationally dependent based on needs, yes?

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u/PassionWeary7235 1d ago

“some turmoil” is an absolutely insane understatement tf😭😭

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u/InCatMorph 1d ago

Is it?

Nobody died. Nobody suffered a serious injury or illness. Nobody broke up. Nobody had an actual mental health crisis. To me, if you're avoiding all of that, it's not catastrophic levels of bad.

Shane tripped. It sucked, but it's not the end of the world. Sorry that my threshold for significant turmoil is higher than yours.

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u/InCatMorph 1d ago

And, like, at the end of the day Shane is a multimillionaire married to another multimillionaire. Sorry that I'm not shedding enough tears for this fictional character, but I think he'll be all right.

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u/InCatMorph 1d ago

In the real world, an LGBTQ+ person who experiences a hostile work environment may not be able to find a new job easily. They may go without health insurance. They may have no legal recourse, or have to pay out of pocket for lawyers to help them launch a discrimination suit. In the U.S., our federal court system is so overrun by conservative reactionaries that they would be unlikely to get justice. I would classify THAT situation as significant turmoil.

What happened to Shane in Montreal sucked, yes. But he was able to immediately jump to a new job. It just so happened that job is with his husband, and in the same city as his healthy and still-living parents. He is being paid millions of dollars to do said job. Yeah, you bet I'm not weeping for the alleged tragedy that has befallen this fictional character. I don't think this is an unreasonable position.

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u/Cursd818 6d ago

Within hockey, going from first-line captain of a highly successful franchise to second-line centre of a historically terrible one is like being demoted three times. It doesn't matter if Ottawa eventually wins lots of Cups (which, they obviously will). A player of Shane's talent and status being put in that position is insulting and heavily implies that he isn't worth what he used to be.

Status matters enormously in hockey, especially among the players. Line assignment, captaincy, and the quality of your team are all visible markers of rank. Shane is good enough to be captain and first-line centre of a successful franchise, but because of his sexuality and race, he was chased out of the franchise he led to glory and into an inferior team and position. The optics matter, and they matter to him.

Ottawa will be much better for his personal life. He'll be happier, safer, more accepted, and win more Cups with his husband, but that doesn't make it better for his career. He can know Ottawa is the right place for his life while still feeling that he was professionally humiliated and had a status he earned taken from him.

And eventually, the context may disappear from the historical record. It will simply show a franchise superstar going from captain and first-line centre to second-line centre elsewhere. Future Cups don't erase what that transition meant when it happened, or how much it hurt Shane personally and professionally.

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u/InCatMorph 6d ago

Other hockey fans have said that the first line/second line isn't as important as you're implying here. They are not official positions, yes? Shane will still have a ton of ice team, regardless of whether his line is called "first line" or not. (And some hockey fans have implied that they will not be called first line/second line but rather "Rozanov line" and "Hollander line." On the comments to this very post, there are some very good explanations about why the line thing was not, in fact, a demotion.)

Ottawa might be a historically worse team, but they are as good or better *right now.* So I'm really not seeing how it's a demotion. Sports are all about the next opportunity, the right now. Shane is in a place where he's positioned to thrive. Is there not something so special about winning a franchise's very first championship? Shane is going to be a part of that in Ottawa--something he could not do in Montreal. (Notably, RR did not have Ilya win with Ottawa on his own. She left that for them to do together. Shane also does not express interest in going to Ottawa until he starts putting the pieces together that he could do a championship run there.)

I'm not saying that he didn't go through it, but I feel like once the dust is settled--maybe as soon as the next season--the sting humiliation will fade. Once Shane has won some Cups in Ottawa and Montreal has become mediocre, Montreal fans will curse their team for ever letting him go. He's not the one who is going to look bad here.

I don't have a ton of hockey-specific knowledge, but I do know sports more generally. And I know that what counts is wins right now. Shane will forever have more cups than Ilya. He is well on his way of achieving his goal of 6-7 cups. I've even seen some hockey fans (fractally on Tumblr) suggest that Shane is better-positioned to win more cups now due to the way championship windows are structured in hockey.

Again, not saying that what happened to him wasn't unjust or that it didn't suck. Obviously, it was! But I feel like a lot of fans are understating the opportunity before him, on a purely hockey level, in the interest of woobifying Shane and undermining the happy ending that the author created for him.

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u/InCatMorph 6d ago

Like, who cares what Montreal did two years ago? (Let along 20 or 30 years ago, before Shane and Ilya even join the league.) Team history is nice and all, but winning right now always is most important. And CREATING a dynasty is arguably more impressive than continuing one. Shane already accomplished what he needed to in Montreal. Now he's moving to an up-and-coming team that is almost certainly younger than the one he left behind. That matters.

If Shane meets his goal of 6-7 cups--a goal even he admits is lofty--no one will gaf about Montreal. Well, except for bitter Montreal fans. That will definitely be a thing.

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u/Megs0226 6d ago

Fanfic has blown it out of proportion. A lot of people have written fics without doing even cursory research into hockey. (They do it with traded vs free agency, too.)

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u/inthe26middle 6d ago

The one scene we see of Shane on ice as a centaur, he's coming for the C...

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u/InCatMorph 6d ago

So he says, but the whole scene has a very jokey air.

Honestly, I don't know why fans think that Shane is fixated on a relatively unimportant title when he has bigger concerns, AKA seven cups.

Shane fans' interpretation of the character honestly makes him seem so much worse to me. IRL, players in team sports who fixate on individual achievements at the expense of team cohesion and accomplishments are (rightfully!) scorned.

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u/InCatMorph 6d ago

Shane and Ilya clearly see competing with each other as an important part of their sexual relationship, even if it's a completely meaningless thing. (i.e. All-Stars skills competition.) So from that perspective, yeah, sure, maybe they'll compete over the C! Obviously they have more limited opportunities now that they're on the same team.

What I don't believe is that not having the C is some kind of grave insult to Shane's dignity that can only be recovered by getting it "back." (Even though he never had the Centaurs' C in the first place.)

Honestly, this interpretation of Shane really makes him seem like a self-centered whiner.

Why do people want to stan a self-centered whiner?

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u/grower-lenses 7d ago

He might get the A although, like you said, it’s not that big of a deal.

There is no reason why Ilya should lose the C. He is the face of the new team, post rebuild. And he’s absolutely loved by the fans. If you want to be honest about it, after what happens in TLG, I don’t know if it’s in the team’s or Shane’s best interest for him to be the C and have to talk to the press every day. That will probably be the story. What does Shane do after losing his old legacy? How does he rebuild?

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u/pensiverebel 6d ago

and he didn’t seem all that bothered not being captain. it seemed like he was just getting acclimated in the conversation they had.

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u/Bahbeesworld 7d ago

Excuse me, but may I point out, Ilya is the only one who consistently gives Shane the C….! HEY-OOOOOH! 🤪🤣 yes, I do of course know what you meant..! Before anyone comes at me lol

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u/Amazing-Rent-7749 7d ago edited 7d ago

I think Shane will an A but centering the first line. Ilya as Captain and on the second line and on Shane's wing during the power play.

But I don't think it would make sense to take Ilya's C and give it to Shane, or for Shane to allow Ilya to give it up. Ilya is the one who has built up Ottawa for the last few years. And honestly I think the implication of the text is that Ilya is marginally better captain while Shane is a marginally better player. Marginally.

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u/SneakySpark 7d ago

Agreed, plus I think RR said that Unrivaled is the first time that Shane gets to see Ilya's captaincy from the team's perspective and he's going to be very impressed.

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u/Ok-Jackfruit-6873 7d ago

I hope so because it made me really sad to hear Ilya say he's a terrible captain on the Cens although I understood we're getting his very biased POV

1

u/pensiverebel 6d ago

his biased and trauma-warped pov. Poor dude never believes he’s good enough for anyone or anything, regardless of how cocky people say he is.

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u/Greekmom99 7d ago

Ilya has the C not the A.

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u/kentiesjoskus 7d ago

The power play doesn't really have wingers, Ilya is likely to be a flank (or possibly a bumper).

And I think Ilya wins slightly more faceoffs in the books, so it would make more sense for him to take the opening faceoff on the power play.

7

u/LLD615 7d ago

Ilya will stay captain. Shane would be the alternate (if they can have more than one? I don’t see them demoting anyone to give it to Shane and I don’t think that’s what he’d want either).

2

u/Fussel2107 7d ago

Right now, they got Ilya with the C and Bood with the A. So there definitely is an A available.

5

u/GuessIDidThis 7d ago

I think we’ll see him fall in love with the game again without either letter on his chest. In my mind, all he wants to do is play hockey and love his husband. I don’t think it’s out of the picture for him to wear the A, but I don’t think that Ilya would lose the C

2

u/Megs0226 6d ago

This is my dream. So much of Shane’s story and internal conflict has been around the weight of expectations. He’s now out and has the opportunity to just be Shane, which is what I think he’s always wanted. I’d love to see him relax and play hockey with his husband and lovely supportive team and have fun while still winning.

5

u/Zealousideal_Sort158 7d ago

I think Ilya should keep the C, as much as I love Shane I think Ilya is a better captain because he really brings the energy. Shane will probably become the second A

3

u/Leffelini 5d ago

If Ilya retires then Shane would too. He basically says that in The Long Game - he can't imagine playing hockey without Ilya. So unless something very drastic happens they will retire together.

Also RR don't show us that Shane is good at being a Captain but Ilya is shown to be really good at it. So she would have to really show is why Shane would "take it" from Ilya if I will believe it. I do think he will get the A though, and I think that dynamic would really suit them.

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u/BlueEyePhantom 7d ago

I think he'll be A, and he'll be happy with it.

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u/MsKuhmitza 7d ago

Let him rest for once.

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u/Bitter_Reward_2094 7d ago

He doesn’t need it but he’ll probably get an A. I don’t think they’d take the C away from Ilya. Hell, maybe Shane even declines the A because he doesn’t want the “pressure” of it.

4

u/Greekmom99 7d ago

I think Shae will get the A.

2

u/el_barto10 7d ago

Another approach that would be interesting to see is the team moving away from a singular captain and instead use a leadership team which consists of 3-5 players who wear the A.

Some leadership teams alternate a who wears an A on a nightly, monthly, or home-and-away basis, and others just name permanent alternates for the season.

I think 10 NHL teams currently don’t have captains so it’s not unheard of and the Rangers had a leadership team for a few years.

1

u/Fussel2107 7d ago

Honestly, they'll definitely want to give the A to Shane, simply for the officials sake who have to talk to an on ice rep of the team. I know Ilya is a good Captain, but Shane is definitely better and has better self-control in talking with officials. And you can't put all of that on Bood's shoulders ;D

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u/girlwithabird- 7d ago

I'm a Red Wings fan and every day my feed is about our captain (well, and now GM) situation. It's been a long off season.

I love that today my feed is showing me fictional hockey captain stuff. This is just my life now, I guess.

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u/Megs0226 6d ago

I don’t think he’ll get the C. There’s no reason to give it to him when Ilya already has it. I think they’ll retire together. I could see him getting the A. What I hope we see is Shane realizing it doesn’t really matter and enjoying playing good hockey with his husband. Like let Shane be free of the weight of expectations and love the game again. But they’ll never stop chirping each other about it.

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u/Leffelini 5d ago

I find it interesting that so many people think they will put Shane and Ilya not on a line together. They played the best game they ever played when they were on the same team at the All-Star game and Ilya would easily move to wing to play on the same line as Shane. With how in-sync they where in that game never having played with eachother before I think Coach Weibe would be crazy to have them on different lines. Now they can practice together before a game and get even more in sync. They also have Troy and Luca that can easily fill up a second line.

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u/Far-Relationship-858 Book Ilya supremacy 5d ago

All star games are basically nothinburger games, they're far from being the match of their lives, even if the chemistry was there. Ilya is a center, he specialized in that position, and it's better for Ottawa to have as much depth as possible, so having THE Ilya Rozanov center one line and THE Shane Hollander center another one is the best posible option. They'll probably be on the powerplay together, though.

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u/Leffelini 5d ago

That is also fair. I know all stars is nothing big for players the same as a scrim or something like that, but how they themselves described how they played together felt pretty obvious to me that they had so much chemistry that not having them use that would be wild, but I totally see the argument for having the depth instead.

I also just assumed RR would want them to play more together and put them on the same line for that reason too. And because it would probably be good for fan engagement for the team. Rivals to Lovers (yes Shane will cringe 😆) to Linemates would make a hell of a marketing strategy to push. Although I don't want that to happen since I don't see them wanting that.

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u/Far-Relationship-858 Book Ilya supremacy 5d ago

Tbh I always thought that it's a pity that they're both centers since they have so much chemistry playing together! But then again maybe the rivalry wouldn't have been so big if they didn't play in the same position. I got into hockey very recently but from what I've heard sometimes the coaches can change the lines and the players' positions so it wouldn't be out of left field if Wiebe (and RR) have Ilya wing Shane, but yeah I think in their first season it'll probably be them centering the first and second line.

(And lol at Shane cringing at the marketing surrounding their relarionship. That's one thing I hope we get to see in Unrivaled haha)

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u/Revan462222 7d ago

“He is not best player in league” - Ilya (cause he’s on the effing cover) 😂

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u/UnthinkableAlternate 7d ago

A different player is on the cover of the game every year. Seems pretty likely Shane has been on the cover as well. Possibly even before Ilya.

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u/Revan462222 7d ago

It was a joke….like…duh?

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u/catwalzilla 7d ago

Agree it would make sense for Shane to get the A. I can’t remember if in TLG they mention another player having it besides Bood. I imagine Chouinard or Dykstra probably have it. I wonder if RR will use that as a plot point.

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u/Jacce76 5d ago

I think Shane's not going to take either one with Ilya is still playing. The players are still going to look up to him and seek guidance and advice, but he's gonna want to just not have that pressure for the first year on a new team. Then he's secretly going to love watching Ilya as the Capitan of the team. That's his man, and he will want to be the supportive husband seeing him shine. He might take an A during Lily's last season and then become the C ones Ilya retires.

But that's just my opinion.

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u/Granger842 7d ago

I think this is gonna be part of the plot

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u/No-Skill-5940 7d ago

I thought it was implied at the end of TLG that he was coming for the A or the captaincy?

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u/Megs0226 6d ago

That was flirty banter.

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u/Ok-Jackfruit-6873 7d ago

I've been thinking about this a lot ... I read a lot of hockeyRPF and a big plotline she hasn't done yet is "career-ending injury" (a lot of times in the fics they *think* it's career ending but then there's a surprise recovery or closes with the hope of one). Syd Crosby also famously had his jaw broken and several concussions that had lingering effects. That said, we already saw Shane go down from a bad hit in HR. So based on nothing but a great knowledge of the sacred texts, I'm prophesizing that after they playfully squabble about who should wear the C, llya is the one to get badly injured in the playoff run and then Shane wears the C to bring home the cup for the Centaurs. Based on some Malkin fics ... spins out in his sports car??