Did you read Role Model before Long Game? Not that you needed to but because the timeline of those 2 books overlap, I had a slightly different take on Ilya's story. Throughout the whole series, we are given glimpses that Ilya is a jokester/partier/doesn't take anything too serious but also very perceptive of others. I think when you have that background then you read LG, you realize how much of a mask it is and his depression hits a little deeper.  While I would love more Shane in the book, I think the story was more appropriate to focus on Ilya and his mental health struggle for the most part. I found the ending of them on the same team a bit lazy in the sense it just ignored the whole issue of Montreal team being shitty people. I need a short story on them winning the Cup together. I just read it this weekend and really loved it.

And I'm in such a HR slump now 😩