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Fantasy - Dump and Chase: 3 players to target in a trade

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Every Thursday, we examine a few players you should consider acquiring on the trade front in your hockey pool.

With the NHL's holiday hiatus and roster freeze upon us, it's time to take stock of your fantasy team. With more than 40 games to go in the regular season, it isn't too late to turn things around - or solidify your spot atop the table.

Below are three players to target as the second half approaches.

Devils F Mike Cammalleri

Mike Cammalleri is reborn.

Heading into the season, many wondered who would score for the New Jersey Devils. Someone had to, and 35 games in, we have our answer: Cammalleri (along with Kyle Palmieri and Lee Stempniak, obviously.)

Cammalleri's 32 points (12 goals, 20 assists) are only 10 shy of what he posted last season in 68 games with the Devils, and 13 points shy of his 2013-14 numbers when he played 63 games for the Calgary Flames. He's playing a lot - 19:40 a night, the second-highest mark of his career - and shooting 12.6 percent, 0.01 percent better than his career mark. In other words, what he's doing goal-scoring wise is entirely sustainable. He's a lock for a third straight 25-plus-goal campaign.

While Cammalleri's yet to post a game-winning marker despite eight in each of the last two seasons, he's got nine power-play points and is a Devils-best plus-10.

It was easy to be weary of Cammalleri early in the season; easy to think his hot start - 11 points in October and 12 in November - wouldn't last. But at 33, Cammalleri - one of the league's smaller, faster players before they became all the rage - seems to have found "it" again. He can help you down the stretch, and will only cost a draft pick in keeper leagues as a rental.

Bruins F Brad Marchand

Brad Marchand's having a career season, and it's time to hop on board.

Back in mid October, when the Boston Bruins opened the season 0-3, and were outscored 16-7 in the process, word around Beantown was that general manager Don Sweeney was trying to gauge the market for the services of veterans Marchand and Zdeno Chara. My, how things have changed.

The Bruins sit second in the Atlantic Division - a point behind the Montreal Canadians with three games in hand - and Marchand's been a big part of their resurgence. Averaging 18:26 in ice time, he's playing more than ever.

Marchand's 15 goals through 31 games are only nine fewer than his 77-game total last season, and he's shooting 14.9 percent, which is actually below his career average (15.1 percent). He has as many shorthanded points as power-play points (four), and is on track to score 30 or more for the first time.

Marchand's a love-hate guy. You hate him if you don't root for the Bruins, but you love him if you're a Boston supporter. The same goes for your fantasy team. He brings a little bit of everything to the table, including penalty minutes, if that's how your league rolls.

Avalanche D Tyson Barrie

Tyson Barrie doesn't get enough love. That changes now.

The Colorado Avalanche defenseman is again quietly putting together an elite offensively productive season in Denver, with 22 points (four goals, 18 assists) in 32 games, including nine on the power play.

After setting career highs in assists (41) and points (53) last season, Barrie's projected to finish with 54 points in 2015-16, which will - again - put him among the top 10 blue-liners in scoring.

Defensemen like Dustin Byfuglien, Drew Doughty, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Duncan Keith, Niklas Kronwall, Alex Pietrangelo, Shea Weber, and Keith Yandle get all the ink. Barrie, meanwhile, does his thing under the radar, on an Avalanche team averaging 2.8 goals per game, which ranks seventh in the league.

The men mentioned above, many of them All-Stars, will cost you an arm and a leg. Barrie will come cheaper, and he'll produce more than all of them. Go get him.

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