Well, check that off the offseason list of to-do things for George McPhee and the Caps. McPhee wouldn't discuss specifics, but he said Bruce Boudreau is under contract and will be the Caps coach for "a long time." There have been no decisions made about the assistant coaches yet. Boudreau said his son, Brady, has made Team Maryland, a traveling hockey team, so his family will likely look for a house in Maryland.

As for the other issues at hand, Eminger said he is open to returning, but he wants to be somewhere where he will play. McPhee said Steve Eminger will be qualified, so the Caps won't be losing him for nothing. I was told Olie Kolzig was here earlier, but one player said he wasn't in the team meeting. Kolzig told a team spokesman he "just needs some time" before talking about the situation. Brent Johnson said he defenitely wants to come back next year, and there are no lingering hard feelings about the way things shook out at the end of the year.

Michael Nylander said he was 10-14 days from maybe being able to play after shoulder surgery. For those of you that don't get the first edition of our newspaper, I had a story about Nylander in there. I was going to put the quotes on here yesterday but there was a lot going on. Here are the quotes:

"Definitely," Nylander said when asked if he thinks he can play again this season. "We are just taking it day-by-day, but so far it is ahead of schedule. I want to take it day-by-day and practice more and more and just try to get back in shape and have everything ready to play."

"It has been positive every time I went to the doctor, and I am very excited about the situation and the team," Nylander said. "It has been unbelievably exciting time for the team. It went all the way down to the last game [to make the playoffs] and it was tough. It was even tougher to sit outside and watch. You want to be in there playing, but it is exciting."

"I feel like normal again," Nylander said. "I will be able to just go out and play without hesitation or any restriction. It feels good and I hope it continues."

Also, McPhee acknowledged that Brian Pothier's concussion problems could be career threatening. He is also concerned about Chris Clark's groin, but didn't think it was as serious at Pothier's situation. Clark said he hasn't set up an offseason rehab plan, but he will likely go see the same specialist Brian Sutherby went to with a similar problem.

Boudreau said Shaone Morrisonn has been playing with a broken jaw, Boyd Gordon has been playing through a torn hamstring, Mike Green had a hip pointer and a foot injury and Alex Ovechkin has been dealing with "something," but neither he nor Ovechkin would divulge what the injury was.

Also not to be lost in the shuffle, Nicklas Backstrom was named a finalist for the Calder Trophy , It will likely be one of the closest votes for an award in recent memory, with as many as six guys likely getting first-place votes.

So, that's a lot of stuff to digest. I'll go back through the tape and see if I missed anything. I am going to be following the Penguins-Rangers series because there are plenty of feature stories to keep me busy. Then there will be some vacation time mixed in, but plenty of Caps news to keep me busy as well I am sure. It has certainly been a wild ride.

- Corey Masisak