Momager Yuna is a powerhouse and Shane is the golden boy of hockey. But I refuse to believe that Ilya was left in the dust with sponsorships, he's the face of a franchise, he's the best player on the league (depending on who you ask)
He has an image of being a womaniser, a party animal and all round playboy. But in my head Ilya is secretly more savvy than anyone give him credit for. And yes, he's a menace but he's also incredibly charming and personable and that goes so far in his favour.
• Ilya is highly intelligent, even if he doesn't always have English to show it. Which is something that always bothers him. People often underestimate him but he eventually learns to use this to his advantage.
• As a child, his mama pushed him to excel academically because she never had the opportunity to finish school herself.She wanted him to have every possible option available outside hockey. Irina understood how brutal the Russian hockey could be and wanted her kind-hearted son to have an escape route if he ever needed one.
• After his mama's death, Ilya continued to perform exceptionally well in school.
• Academic failure was not acceptable in the Rozanov household. Poor grades resulted in lectures at best and physical punishment at worst from his father. Excellence was needed not only for his survival but he viewed anything less as an insult to his mama.
• Ilya had as many sponsorship opportunities as Shane early in his career. Most of his initial sponsorships were Russian sports brands. He didn't particularly enjoy doing brand deals, but understood their importance. Even as a teenager, he was intelligent enough to negotiate contracts in Russian himself. And at this point his father was still annoyingly heavily involved in all negotiations. His father viewed bad contracts as a reflection on the Rozanov family image and such embarrassment could not stand.
• Ilya was the on who developed the idea for the CCM campaign and pitched the idea to get Shane involved. Yes, it for mostly for his own selfish gain but it proves that he has an eye for business and what the people want.
• After moving to Boston, Ilya participated in team-wide sponsorship campaigns. One campaign was with Dunkin' Donuts. A single billboard of Ilya holding an iced latte and a donut went viral. Fans joked that no one should look that attractive while holding a donut. This made Ilya recognisable far beyond the hockey world.
• His father was furious. He considered it humiliating that his son was becoming famous because of an American dessert advertisement. During the summer, Ilya endured lectures and shaming over the incident. Secretly, he found the entire situation hilarious. Ilya was particularly delighted by the possibility of never having to pay for coffee and donuts again.
• Ily was ribbed relentlessly in the locker room for his 'hot donut guy' image, but he chirped back that he had more talent and charm in his little finger than the whole team had put together, and he used his flash in the pan donut fame to get the ball rolling with other adverts.
• Ilya initially struggled with English-language contracts and meetings. His pride often stopped him from asking for help. However, mounting financial pressures from his father debts and his brother's coke habits forced his hand.
• Ilya eventually swallowed his pride and demanded proper translations of every contract.
• Over time Ilya educated himself on sponsorship negotiations. He became extremely selective about which partnerships he accepted. Of course, he didn't discuss this with anyone, being boring was Shane's thing after all.
• Ilya secured himself deals with Adidas and Coca-Cola and when he turned 21 he got himself his very first vodka deal.
• At one of their events, he met an guy connected to Formula One. After several drinks, Ilya found the brovado to introduce himself but then embarrassingly rambled the whole time about his love of cars and racing. The F1 guy hardly got a single word in.
• Ilya woke up mortified the next morning.
• His embarrassment disappeared when he received an invitation to an F1 showcase event. Turns out the F1 guy was charmed by Ilya's enthusiasm.
• At a Boston gala supporting a children's hospital, Ilya was having an especially bad day. While leaning against the bar and waiting for the event to end, he caught the attention of an older woman. She was initially struck by how effortlessly beautiful he looked in a position that would otherwise be slouched and lazy.
• The woman turned out to be a photographer. She was preparing an exhibition focused on challenging traditional masculinity. One of the planned themes involved ballet. Upon learning that Ilya was a professional hockey player, she assumed he would not be interested. Instead, Ilya argued he was the perfect choice, afterall, who better than a russian hockey player??? But he also thought to himself about how much Mama loved the Ballet.
• The resulting photographs became the breakout success of the exhibition. Prints featuring Ilya became especially popular.
• When Shane first saw the photos he was in his hotel room with Hayden and got so painfully hard he had to go hide in the bathroom and jerk off.
• After the exhibition, Ilya had offers from magazines and fashion designers. A few of which he agreed to, if only because he enjoyed the look on Shane's face whenever Ilya showed him the results.
• Ilya continued to have very successful adverts and sponsorships. He keeps them to a minimum but the ones he agrees to are lucrative and long lasting. He's a menace and a pain in the arse, but he's always polite to staff and they adore his cheekiness.
• Ilya is famous far beyond hockey. He may be less recognisable than Shane but he is definitely more popular.
• Ilya is viewed as effortlessly cool. (The debate between Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov becomes legendary, even outside of hockey fans. It reaches the same level as people arguing over Messi and Ronaldo. Teenagers have been suspended from school because cause someone said Ilya Rozanov sucks. Bar fights have been started because someone said Shane Hollander is more famous than Ilya Rozanov.)
• Once Yuna becomes closer to him, she offers to help manage Ilya sponsorships.
• Ilya is hesitant because he worked so hard to have this for himself and he has been protecting himself for years.
• Eventually, Ilya allows Yuna to review his portfolio.
• Yuna expects to find chaos. Instead, she discovers: extensive research, meticulous records, strong negotiation terms, careful brand alignment and long-term financial planning.
• Even Yuna, who is notoriously demanding, is impressed. She praises him for how thorough and strategic he has been.
• Shane is completely stunned. And stutters about how Ilya spend hundreds of thousands on flashy cars, how is his portfolio so clean?? How is it more organised than Shane's own?? Ilya laughs and reveals those cars were given to him in lieu of payment. Shane's jaw is on the floor.
• This is one of the first times someone truly appreciates how intelligent and business-savvy Ilya is.
• After receiving Yuna's praise, Ilya becomes visibly shy. Shane pokes him in the cheeks and says that Ilya is blushing, which Ilya denies because Russians do not do this.
• He then ducks his head and quietly admits that he took such good care because he wanted to make his mama proud.
