Pluses and minuses from around the NHL

+ Stars of the future will be on display at the World Junior Championships, which started Monday and will continue through Jan. 5 in Calgary and Edmonton. The NHL Network will provide coverage of all Team USA games, five preliminary-round games and all medal-round contests. They’re worth watching.

+ The Boston Bruins had a slow start that could easily be attributed to the usual Stanley Cup hangover, but they’ve come alive. They’ve won six straight, eight of their last 10 and 20 of their last 23. They also lead the NHL with a whopping plus-56 goal differential, having scored 119 and allowed 63.

+ Toronto Maple Leafs Coach Ron Wilson used his Twitter account (@coachrw63) to announce that Santa had visited him and left some goodies: “I got a new Red Ryder BB gun and a contract extension!” General Manager Brian Burke (@LeafsBB20) used his Twitter account to confirm the extension. Now that Wilson is armed, here’s hoping Toronto media folks got flak jackets as their Christmas presents.

- The Kings entered the Christmas break with a baffling streak: they had scored two regulation goals or fewer in 14 straight games. Some of that was due to Mike Richards’ absence while he recovered from a concussion, but that isn’t enough to explain the teamwide slump. General Manager Dean Lombardi might have to go shopping for a scoring winger when the holiday trade freeze ends, late Tuesday.

- Injuries have pulled the Minnesota Wild back down to earth, and the team took a six-game winless streak into the Christmas break. The Wild scored only seven goals in that 0-4-2 stretch and Dany Heatley has only two goals in his last nine games.

- The Ducks continue to stumble, with only two wins in their last 10 games. Goaltender Jonas Hiller isn’t the same player he was last season and there are games Bobby Ryan has been invisible. They’ve already changed coaches, from Randy Carlyle to Bruce Boudreau, so it might be time for a major roster shake-up.