The New Jersey Devils have fired coach Peter DeBoer and assistant coach Dave Barr.
Adam Oates and Scott Stevens were named as co-coaches Saturday, with general manager Lou Lamoriello to step behind the bench on an interim basis before ceding control of the team to them.
The Devils (12-17-7) are seventh in the Metropolitan Division with 31 points, nine points out of the final Eastern Conference wild-card berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. DeBoer was in his fourth season as New Jersey's coach.
DeBoer took the Devils to the Stanley Cup Final in 2012, but they have not made the playoffs since.
In their final game before the Christmas break, the Devils lost 2-1 in a shootout to the Carolina Hurricanes, the last-place team in the Eastern Conference. New Jersey is 2-5-3 in its past 10 games. The Devils are 28th in the NHL in goals-per-game (2.11) this season after finishing 27th last season (2.40).
Last season, New Jersey was sixth in the division with 88 points and finished five points out of the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot. The Devils were 0-13 in the shootout.
New Jersey finished seven points out of a playoff berth in 2012-13, when it was 2-7 in the shootout.
DeBoer was hired by the Devils on July 19, 2011.
New Jersey finished with 102 points in 2011-12. The Devils lost in the Stanley Cup Final in six games to the Los Angeles Kings after defeating the Florida Panthers (seven games), Philadelphia Flyers (five games) and New York Rangers (six games) to win the Prince of Wales Trophy.
The Devils were 114-93-41 under DeBoer. They are 4-26 in the shootout since the start of the 2012-13 season. They went 12-4 in the shootout in 2011-12.
DeBoer leaves as the second-winningest coach in Devils history behind Jacques Lemaire (276). He is third in franchise history in total games coached (248) behind Lemaire (509) and Doug Carpenter (290).
DeBoer replaced Lemaire, who was brought back on an interim basis on Dec. 23, 2010, when Lamoriello fired John MacLean after 33 games.
Prior to coming to New Jersey, DeBoer spent three seasons as the coach of the Florida Panthers. He went 103-107-36 with the Panthers from 2008-11. Before that, he coached in the Ontario Hockey League for 13 seasons.
DeBoer is the third NHL coach fired this season. Paul MacLean of the Ottawa Senators was fired Dec. 8, and Dallas Eakins of the Edmonton Oilers a week later.