In the column of news that we could have told you months ago, the Capitals have agreed to a long-term contract with coach Bruce Boudreau, who led the team to win 37 of 61 games after taking over midseason. This is the kind of first-season coaching record that will have Caps fans forgetting the triumphant debut of Bruce Cassidy. In the department of news we’ve been telling you for weeks, Nicklas Backstrom has been officially named one of the three finalists for the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year.

To continue telling you the news in advance, Boudreau will soon be nominated for the Jack Adams trophy as the NHL’s best coach, because the team had lost twice as many games as it had won when he took over, and he did a good job of turning them around. Our commenters have already pointed out that neither Backstrom nor Boudreau will win these awards, but the nominations are and will be great honors. We think Boudreau has as good a shot as any at the Adams, but we agree that, since Chicago’s Patrick Kane led rookies in scoring, most Calder votes will go to him.