It’s time for an Islanders playoff run, and that means another Drive4Five Mailbag! In this series, we will be answering questions that are asked to us on our Instagram, @drive4five, through the question and answer feature on Instagram stories, about the New York Islanders, potential trades and hockey in general. This will be a collaborative effort by all the writers on the website as each week you will see different people answering the questions! If you want to ask a question to potentially be featured in next week’s mailbag, make sure to check our Instagram for the next time we post the question and answer box on our story! If you want to check out what we had to say in the third mailbag, you can check it out here!

From @__sea_moose__: “Do you still see the Islanders as underdogs?”

“From a technical standpoint, the Islanders are the underdog because they are the lower seed and do not have as much notable talent as Washington. The Islanders, however, have a team of veterans that no how to win, even when we’re playing skilled teams. We’ve proven we can beat them, so don’t count us out. Last year, five out of eight first-round series were won by the lower seed. In hindsight, the Islanders are right there with the Capitals and really have the strategy to win these games, so although I’d still consider us underdogs, Barry Trotz knows that in order to go far, you’ll have to go through the f*****ng island. Anything can happen in playoff hockey.”
-Ben K.

From @stephen.hession: “What are some potential trades we can see this offseason?”

“Two players that jump out to me are Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk. I think trading one of these defensemen will be a benefit in multiple ways. First of all, it frees up some salary room as they make $5.5 million and $6 million, respectively, and secondly, it opens up a roster spot for a former first-round pick in defenseman Noah Dobson to have an everyday role. Dobson’s game has improved as the season progressed and deserves a full-time role. The Islanders are obviously stronger on the defensive side of the puck, so trading one for a forward could shake this up and help offensively. Also, look for Lou Lamoriello to try and acquire some draft capital to make up for what was lost in the Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Andy Greene trades.”
-Brendan

From @scott._.petersen: “What is the key to beating the Washington Capitals?”

“For the Islanders, there are three main keys to defeating the Washington Capitals. So far in their playoff run, outside the penalty kill and some blunders in Game 3 against Florida, the Islanders have been nearly perfect so far in the bubble. They have to continue how they’re playing.
Key #1: Discipline. The Islanders have allowed just five goals 5-on-5 in their last six games, but six power-play goals in the span. The penalty kill, to simply put it, has not been good. The Islanders won’t beat the Capitals if they continue their parade to the penalty box. The kill has struggled too much and the Capitals have a lot of dangerous scorers.
Key #2: Depth. The Islanders have gotten scoring from all across their lineup. As Barry Trotz likes to say, there haven’t been many “passengers.” In six games, eight players have had four or more points, with Anthony Beauvillier and Josh Bailey with seven each. While these aren’t stars or big names in the National Hockey League, offensive contributions from them will need to continue to beat Washington and make a deep playoff run. You can’t win every game 2-1.
Key #3: Semyon Varlamov. Lastly, Varlamov still has to stay strong. He had ups and downs in the regular season but has been absolutely solid so far in the playoffs. His positioning has looked significantly better, as has his confidence and movement in the net. At the end of the day, your best defender is your goaltender and it has to continue to stay that way if the Isles want to beat an offensively loaded Washington team.
They have done this so far. Can they keep it up?”
-Shawn
Thanks to everyone who submitted questions, and make sure to keep an eye out on the Instagram story for the next time to submit questions, and check back next week for the next installment of the Drive4Five Mailbag!

SEF