I personally believe RR fucked herself up by writing Role Model first. And then everything after Role Model had to be canon, or else it was too big of a plot hole.
So while Ottawa being a shit team and 'underdogs' was better for Troy's storyline, it's completely nonsensical for Shane & Ilya's story. Just like the plane emergency landing was great for Troy & Harris' relationship, it's an absolutely insane choice for Shane & Ilya's relationship!
Same thing for Ilya's depression. Troy doesn't notice shit, and neither do any of the other characters in the 'verse, so instead, RR makes sure that Shane notices to keep the plot moving. But the only reason he notices the problem is that Ilya is overcorrecting for his sadness by being an asshole (unaffectionate). So now we get Schrödinger's Empathetic Ilya.
Nothing bad happens to any of the main white, gay hockey players, but background character Baldwin has to deal with no contract being offered to him, and Lundin has to go back to Sweden? And it doesn't make Ilya pause for a second or relate it to his/Shane's situation??? 😭 Oh brother...
Automatically, we can see that the details that are good for one character are fucking up another character's story.
Specifically, it creates a dissonance in the universe where Ilya is Schrödinger's competent-as-a-captain, has Schrödinger's perceptiveness, and Shane has Cassandra of Troy's curse cast upon him by the creative gods (RR).