Archive of Our Own

There’s been a lot of bombshells I’ve covered over the years, but this week’s news has to be the biggest. 

Normally I try to stay away from the off-ice stuff - we’re all humans and this is, ostensibly, a hockey thoughts column - but this thing has broken containment. It’s the biggest story in both Canada and the US. It’s on Good Morning America. Trade talks and other rumblings around the league shut down when it broke. I can’t remember the last time hockey has dominated the headlines so much - if it ever has. 

If anyone had been living under a rock, the statement released yesterday by Montreal Metros captain Shane Hollander and Ottawa Centaurs captain Ilya Rozanov: 

Although having the decision to disclose our relationship made for us isn’t ideal, we would like to announce, officially, that we are in a committed, romantic relationship, and have been for several years. 

Let’s lay it out: in a video for a fan leaked on social media, Hollander and Rozanov were seen in a compromising position that suggests a romantic relationship. In the hours that followed, both were scratched from that night’s games and MLH subsequently announced indefinite suspensions for both of them. 

It’s been a whirlwind of a 24 hours for the hockey world. 

1. “Unprecedented” is the term I’ve been seeing and hearing thrown around, and I don’t disagree. We’ve never seen two players in a romantic relationship in MLH. We’ve also never seen the league react so swiftly with non-hockey suspensions for any reason. 
2. Both the Montreal Metros and Ottawa Centaurs have suspended the two indefinitely due to the investigation. I’m hearing this came straight from MLH Commissioner Roger Crowell.
3. Right now, fair or not, the league is concerned with the appearance of integrity.  Did either of Rozanov or Hollander throw any games for each other? Those two are as competitive as I’ve seen any hockey players in my time covering the league, and I frankly would be shocked if anything like that happened.
   
   Our analytics department took a look into it, and both Hollander and Rozanov’s career stats increase across the board when facing each other. Goals, assists, hits, blocks, shot attempts… If the league was solely looking at the numbers, there’s no question that it was actually the opposite that has been happening. They’ve been spectacular against each other. 
4. Hollander and Rozanov share an agent, Farrah Jalali, who has been aggressive in the past in protecting her clients. Do I expect a photoshopped sword in the back of either of these two? No. But sources close to both players’ camps say that legal action is not out of the question, and that attorneys have been contacted to draft discrimination lawsuits if necessary.
5. The Player’s Association has been quiet so far, but a statement and a formal grievance is expected from them soon. The league is playing with fire with this suspension. There is no protocol or precedent here, but other off-ice suspensions have rarely come without a bunch of evidence. Unless the league has something that we don’t, the news about Rozanov and Hollander was such a surprise that there can’t be evidence at this time. I don’t even want to speculate that there would be another reason - and cause for that discrimination lawsuit. 
6. There is a league meeting later this week between Crowell and the two players, so expect an update then. I’ve been told Hollander and Rozanov are flying out to the league offices in New York, and will be accompanied by their legal team as well as representatives from the players association. 
7. Privately, there’s been some grumblings from the Centaurs organization around the suspension. They want to support their player. 
8. One non-Centaurs executive texted me, “This reeks. We always talk about how brothers always get up for facing off against each other. How is this any different?”
9. I didn’t report on it because as a rule I don’t want to speculate on private lives, but there had been some loud rumblings around the league this season that Shane Hollander was gay.
   
   Now, sources from inside the Montreal dressing room say that Hollander had come out to his team earlier this year, and it was not received well.
10. I’m also hearing that there’s a real sense of betrayal towards Hollander among the Metros team. They weren’t comfortable with him being gay, and they definitely aren’t comfortable with his partner, and this is the guy that led you to two Cups after the longest drought in franchise history. There’s some real hurt feelings there. There are a handful of players supporting Hollander in the room, but it has become a toxic environment.
11. Another source within the Montreal organization texted me after I brought up Hollander’s track record as captain on the show when the news first broke: “Hollander is supposed to be the captain of the team, and keeping something like that a secret? How are they supposed to trust him when he won’t even trust his own team? How do they know that he hasn’t been lying about throwing games or providing intel to the Russian?”
12. It does feel like we’re heading towards a divorce between the Metros captain and the team that drafted him. Montreal GM Ron Bourque has a reputation of valuing the room makeup more than anything, and it doesn’t seem like the GM or Metros head coach Theriault want to do anything to repair the fracture there. I get that there are 23 guys in the room, but there’s only one Shane Hollander.
13. This is going to be a tricky situation for both sides. Hollander’s contract isn’t up for another year, and he has a full no-move. There aren’t a lot of teams out there who have the cap space to take on Hollander’s massive deal, and the ones that do wouldn’t necessarily be the ones that the ultra-competitive Hollander would want to join fresh off another Cup win. And Montreal is going to want to try to get full value out of their captain, regardless of the circumstances.
    
    Is the situation so bad that moving the player is more important than making a fair trade? Similarly, is it so bad that it’d be worth it to the player to waive his no-move just to get away? Or can both sides hold off and deal with this situation for another year and let cooler heads prevail? That’s only for Montreal and Hollander to know, but my gut says that both sides would rather rip off the Band-Aid than deal with this any longer.
14. I remember talking to Shane Hollander after the 2009 draft. He was obviously pretty disappointed at only going second overall, but also thrilled that he was going to the Metros. He told me his mom, Yuna Hollander, grew up a die-hard fan of the team.
    
    Years later, I talked to him after he won his second Cup with them. “Everything happens for a reason, and I’m thrilled that I ended up in Montreal,” he said at the time. “I am a Metro for life, and I plan on playing my whole career here.” Gutting to see how this has ended up. 
15. I think there’s a lot of surprise around Ilya Rozanov and the reputation that he’s cultivated over the years.
    
    “Roz definitely leaned into that reputation, yeah,” one player told me. “But he had stopped being the party guy years ago. He’s matured a lot, but lets you guys think that he’s still a 21-year-old kid.”
    
    He’s very well-liked in the Ottawa room, and left Boston on good terms. Players from both teams would skate through a wall for him. Apparently, he had come out to Ottawa earlier this season as well, after that scary incident with the team plane. I’ve been told that his teammates have been incredibly supportive both then and now. 
16. The Centaurs team shop is running out of the numbers eight and one to put on jerseys. The fans in Ottawa love Rozanov, and they’re showing their support. 
17. This is just speculation on my part, but Ilya Rozanov’s surprising move to Ottawa last summer suddenly makes a lot more sense. Ottawa and Montreal are only two hours from each other, while Boston and Montreal are five hours plus a border crossing. Hollander also has family and a residence in Ottawa. 
18. The Centaurs have long operated under an internal cap, but loosened the purse strings when Rozanov wanted to go there. How could they not? It’s not every day that one of the top two players in the league reaches out to say that they want to play for you.
    
    With a potential Hollander-Metros divorce, suddenly the other top player in the league could be available and has close ties to the team. I don’t care what the internal cap is, if I’m the GM I go to the owner and beg for that extra money. We saw how well the two played together at the 2017 All-Star Game, and while they certainly weren't facing MLH-level defence, the on-ice chemistry was undeniable. Add that to the support that Rozanov has received from that organization, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Hollander was wearing a Centaurs sweater at the start of next season.
    
    I’m sure there would be grumblings from other GMs if this happens, but again, you have to look at the brothers precedent: how many times have brothers been used to recruit each other to teams? We’re looking at it right now with New Jersey. This should be no different. 
19. One team I’ve heard that won’t be in on Hollander if he does become available? Toronto.
20. The most interesting part of the statement in my eyes: “Ilya and I are in a committed, romantic relationship and have been for several years.”
    
    Now, whatever several years actually encompasses, you’ve at least got some Cup wins and an MVP in there from both parties. Again, not to belabor the point, but it’s hard to see that either of them let the other win. These are the two best players in the league, and they didn’t get there by taking it easy on anybody. 
21. “This definitely puts their rivalry in perspective,” one player texted me. “Were they ever even rivals?”
22. Sharp-eyed readers have pointed out that Rozanov had started wearing a ring on his necklace a couple months ago. Could be a coincidence, but now everything they’ve done is in a new light. 
23. When Scott Hunter famously came out on the ice after winning the Cup, I think everyone was patting themselves on the back for how well he was received. There was a lot of work put into initiatives like Hockey Is For Everyone, and around the league there was a feeling of, “Great, somebody felt safe enough to come out, this is good enough.”
    
    Obviously, as we’re finding out, there’s still a lot more work to be done. 
24. A lot of eyeballs turned to Scott Hunter when this news broke, as the only out player in MLH history.
    
    “I want to send my full support to Hollander and Rozanov. Even if we aren’t always friends on the ice, both of them know that I’ve got their backs off of it. It’s disappointing that they were unable to come out on their own terms, and that they’re facing increased speculation that I never did. This league still has a long way to go in showing that hockey truly is for everyone.”
25. Lost in a lot of this conversation is the Russia factor. Ilya Rozanov is a Russian citizen and holds a Russian passport. Promoting homosexuality is against the law there, and he could face serious consequences if he returns to his home country.
    
    Russian players for years had been expressing concerns both publicly and privately around using Pride tape and wearing the jerseys during their teams’ Pride nights and their safety once they return home. This obviously goes much, much further than that and there’s legitimate concern for Rozanov’s well-being. 
26. I have heard that Rozanov had already started the process of becoming a Canadian citizen. Otherwise, an asylum claim would have been on the table, which could have been complicated by the ongoing suspension. Still, this is a tense situation, and we all hope that Rozanov can stay safe. 
27. Two years ago Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander announced the Irina Foundation, a mental health charity in honour of Rozanov’s mother, who he had lost to suicide when he was 12 years old. It’s been doing a lot of good, and the hockey camps that the two had run to support it have always been well-attended. I’m hoping that this revelation hasn’t hurt the support for an excellent cause. 
28. FanMail has been an fan outreach initiative for several teams this year, plus a way for players to earn a little extra change that doesn’t count towards their escrow payments. I know a lot of players only begrudgingly participate in it, but others have really enjoyed that connection they get with fans on their own terms.
    
    But after this incident, teams are taking a hard look at whether they want their guys on this platform. Is it any different from Instagram or Twitter? No, but GMs look for any excuse to avoid distractions, and FanMail has just become the #1 distraction. 
29. You have to feel for Hayden Pike. He’s been Hollander’s best friend for years, and he accidentally outed him. Both players have publicly forgiven him, but that’s got to be eating him up inside.
30. I was on the air when this news broke. We’d been seeing speculation on social media all day, and then the last-minute scratches enflamed Twitter even more. When Hollander and Rozanov confirmed everything, it was one of those moments where you knew that everything you did would be recorded in history. I just hope that I was up to it.
    
    It was an ugly day. We saw from some of the reactions just how far we still have to go to be fully accepting in this league. These two have been leading MLH locker rooms for over a decade, won just about everything you can win at this level, and are still being questioned and accused of being predators. It was frankly sickening.
    
    On the other hand, the number of messages I received from around the league privately supporting Rozanov and Hollander showed how much those two’s relationship means to so many people. Whether or not they were prepared to go public, the fact that they’re owning it and fighting to get back on the ice means a lot.
    
    I just hope we get to see these two back on the ice soon. The league is better with Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander competing.