Goalie Handcuffs: Best Bets

[northernnuck]

When the season was about to start and goalie forecasts was all over the map, the concept of a goalie handcuff was available to me in 3 of my leagues (H2H full-keeper multicat pts). Could have went for Crawford-Darling or Howard-Mrazek but something did not click. In a 10 team league, Lehtonen was left behind. I had Elliott, Mason & Niemi. Not top shelf, but opportunity was there to get something out of it though burned with these guys many times in the last few years.

Lehtonen been showing off why is #1 and Niemi pulling his rank to make it work. Stars have 2nd most wins and their machine will contend as long as their differential holds up. So I dropped Mason, seeing a pattern of downfall that looks like repetition.

I am gambling Leht/Niemi handcuff will be, by definition, the best bet going in a full-keeper league with both winning aplenty, and it most likely to last beyond this year as a system (Dallas stable of goalies is pretty thin).

Any other handcuff better than Lehtonen/Niemi for a full-keeper dynasty league? So many volatile situations out there.

[roberto_alomar]

Tandems? Howard/Mrazek for me. I like to reserve "handcuff" for RBs

[Pengwin7]

I invested in several goalie handcuffs this year
Very often, I took the guy that "fell".
The three most common of the tandem-teams that I got were the DET, DAL, CGY pairs. (Got the WPG duo in a couple league, never got M.Jones or Stock, never got Allen/Elliot - went too soon in all leagues).

In most leagues, I saw Howard (DET) go first... and I took Mrazek (DET) if he was there a few rounds later.
In a couple league I saw Niemi (DAL) go first... and took Lehtonen (DAL) if he was there a few rounds later.
The downside is Hiller (CGY) who I thought was going to be value. First Ramo shit the CGY bed, then Hiller shit in it and got injured, then Ortio shit it in... then they cleaned the sheets and put Ramo back in bed and he's rocking it.
Well - at least I traded FOR Ramo in one league at minimal cost.

But the moral of the story is this:
If you draft a proven-backup, he might turn into the proven-starter... and you've drafted "value".

FWIW - I think Lehtonen is the better skill goalie in DAL and Mrazek is the better skill goalie in DET.
I have most faith in Mrazek since he is new/fresh blood, whereas Howard hasn't taken the Wings past the 2nd round of playoffs.

[Axeman33]

When talking about handcuffs, I think Detroit, St Louis, Dallas and even the Rangers to this point in the season are all showing excellent value.

[roberto_alomar]

Cant go wrong with Tampa goalies either

[havanablast21]

Cant go wrong with Tampa goalies either

Agree with #12 here

[rataylor22]

I feel like Tandem's and Handcuffs are very different things.

IE. Condon is the Handcuff to Price, Lehtonen and Niemi are a Tandem.

However to answer the OP, the best goalie options are always the best teams, so, Chicago, Tampa, Dallas, Montreal, etc.