Lighthouse Hockey, a New York Islanders community

"These are not easy negotiations, but the outcome can be positive. If both sides give a little, everyone, including fans, will get a lot and the game will improve through innovation."

Prior to the FA period, I advocated letting Peppers walk. Often, people asked me who I'd replace him with. My typical answer was Terrell Suggs of the Ravens, who was also hitting the FA market. He's younger, nearly as talented and versatile, comes without the headaches, and, I surmised, would be much cheaper. As it turned out, they both got franchised and it was a moot point. Still, though, if Peppers is truly wanting to go up to $15 mil a year, I hope people will see that that demand is just plain ridiculous after the recent $12 mil a year deal of Jared Allen and this most recent signing.