[rprasad]

That's an inventive take on the owners demanding the players give up 15% of their profit stake on top of 10-35% cuts to salaries, contract rights, health benefits, and licensing rights.

The owners started with a ridiculous offer and maintained the same ridiculous offer through the negotiations. In the end, the players union was forced to fold because the players did not have the same financial resources as the owners did to weather a lost season. The players union was negotiating against itself the entire time; the owners got everything they wanted.

Donald Fehr's strategy all along was to drag his feet for as long as possible to not only get the best deal for the NHLPA but to, more importantly, frustrate the NHL and show them that a lockout is not an easy button for labor disputes.

If that was his goal, he failed, miserably. It also ignores the previous two NHL lockouts, which did not turn out so badly for the players union.