You do bring up some good points so let me address them.
First off, you are 100% correct that I have no idea if Fehr or the players would have negotiated in good faith if the NHL would have started the season on time. That is an assumption on my part as well that we don't know if the players would have come to the table in good faith if that happened. That is another "wasted opportunity" that was pissed away by the league thats for sure.
Secondly, I don't blame the PA for this debacle "100%". The fault lies with the ownership more than the players in my mind, about 60% to 40%. I don't blame one side entirely. So lets just put that to bed right there. I do blame them for pissing away the opportunity they had to negotiate though, and everyone should blame them for that. As for the first initial proposals, both sides waited 3 weeks each to deliver their first proposals. Being as that they didn't start until late June, that was a big mistake.
Lastly, I have been as harsh on the ownership as I have on the players throughout this entire thread when I have replied. You make statements like I blame the ownership 100%, which is entirely not true. The bias in this thread has always reeked of pro-players standpoint, and I am ok with that. That bias has also equated to anything that is spoken against the players is a lie and a farce. It is very hard for anyone here who is pro-player to even admit that their side has really sucked ass in these negotiations. Its so bad that anyone who says things against the players union is obviously "100%" against the union.
I spoke out against one point that I am furious with the players union, and that is pissing away an opportunity to meet early and start negotiating. Its a known fact that the league wanted to meet early and the union dragged its feet until June. Is that right if both sides are negotiating in good faith? The answer is no.
Now, since you probably are just dying to hear me say something anti-owners, here we go.
Is it bargaining in good faith if one side lowballs the other with a proposal? The answer is no on that as well. That is not a side I would want to bargain with.
Of course, my second question will be ignored by many people here and everyone will just focus on the first one because it is anti-players union. Someone else will attempt to misrepresent my stance and say I am 100% for the owners, just because I said something anti player.
Lets just stop misrepresenting what people are saying at this stage. It does nothing positive to the conversation.
Replacing all the owners and players is never going to happen. We can replace the people that are leading these negotiations though, and that is what needs to happen. Yes, Bettman does what the owners want him to do. Same as Fehr. I believe that both people are poisonous to the negotiating process though. I believe their counsel is also poisonous to the process. A clean slate is the only way that things are going to get better. Leaving one or the other in charge is akin to this whole process repeating again down the road.
Oh, and I wasn't defending Bettman. Just like I wasn't defending Fehr for the players taking a hard line. I was merely saying that both sides leaders are doing what their people want them to do. They really shouldn't take the blame solely. You can blame the greedy and inflexible owners and players for this debacle. Their leaders should be second on the list, but since you can't fire the owners and players, you have to fire the leaders.