Out of all the rhetoric spewed by the NHL and the NHL Players' Association over the past week, one sentence keeps echoing in my head. It came from George Parros, the mustachioed enforcer who majored in economics at Princeton and serves on the union's negotiating committee.

"Obviously," Parros said, "you don't want to lose half the season for one percent."

To be clear, the owners and players are not one percent apart, far from it. We're talking about where you draw the line in a lockout and how long you hold it.

Parros wasn't revealing any official cost-benefit calculation. He said the players aren't quantifying it like that. The owners probably aren't quantifying it like that, either. At least not yet.

And when you're fighting over this kind of money, one percent is significant. One percent of $3.3 billion – last year's total of hockey-related revenue – is $33 million. Multiply that by four or five or six, the proposed lengths of the next collective bargaining agreement. Now add to that, maybe a lot to that, to account for potential growth. One percent could mean hundreds of millions of dollars over the course of the deal.

But think about it another way: What's $33 million divided by 30 teams? It's $1.1 million. What's $33 million divided by 700 players? It's $47,142.86. What's one percent if revenue goes down because of damage done by the lockout? It won't be $33 million anymore, won't be $1.1 million per team, won't be $47,142.86 per player.

[Related: NHL unlikely to employ replacement players if lockout drags on]

What's one percent, really, in the end?

Both sides need to seriously consider the point of diminishing returns here, with no formal talks planned four days into the lockout, with the sides only touching base informally and plotting strategy privately. Again, there is still a deal to be made and a chance for compromise, but it is slipping away, day by day.

Everyone knows what the core issue is: the percentage of hockey-related revenue. And like it or not, everyone seems to know what the middle ground is: an eventual split of about 50-50. The players are in the low 50s; the owners are in the high 40s. Despite all their differences, they are close enough where it counts most, and that's why it's so ridiculous and frustrating that they aren't negotiating.

If the owners scuttle half a season to get the players to 51, well, they essentially could have had them at 52 today. If the players sacrifice half a season to get the owners up to 48, well, they could have had 47 today. If they eventually reach a deal that looks like it could have been reached Sept. 15, the fans will be even more upset than they are now. Each of those precious percentage points could be less valuable.

The hope: Cooler heads will prevail. The lockout will last weeks, not months. The sides will meet in the middle, the game will keep growing, and everyone will make more in terms of actual dollars. The benefit of compromising outweighs the cost of not compromising. Obviously you don't want to lose half the season for one percent.

The fear: The longer this goes, the deeper each side digs in. Instead of being pressured by missed gate receipts and missed paychecks, the owners and players decide that they need to make the pain worth it – that they need to win. The cost of not compromising has become so high that there needs to be a benefit. Obviously you don't want to lose half the season for one percent.

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