Peter DeBoer fired as head coach of the Devils

The Devils personnel had declined for several years. New Jersey had been unable to keep captain Zach Parise, watched Ilya Kovalchuk bolt to the KHL Overall the team currently employs a circa early 2000s All-Star team with Scott Gomez and Jaromir Jagr leading the way.

Also, their drafting has been horrible. Outside of Adam Larssen and Adam Henrique, what have they selected talent-wise since 2005?

So general manager Lou Lamoriello did what any general manager who hadn’t given his coach enough talent would do. He fired the dude behind the bench.

Adios Peter DeBoer – merry day after Christmas. Reportedly, no replacement will be named until Saturday morning.

Said the Bergen Record:

Despite, their youth on defense, the Devils have the NHL's oldest team with an average age of 31 years. A lot of their age is up front with just two forwards -- on the active roster or injured reserve -- under age 29 -- Adam Henrique and Jacob Josefson (currently sidelined with a groin injury)

They have four forwards 35 or older -- Jaromir Jagr (turns 43 on Feb. 15), Patrik Elias (38), Dainius Zubrus (36) and Scott Gomez (35).

DeBoer, 46, finishes his Devils’ coaching career with a 114-93-41 record. His 114 wins rank second in team history behind Jacques Lemaire’s 276 and his 248 total games rank third behind Lemaire’s 509 and Doug Carpenter’s 290.

Yup, so basically the coach was four years older than the team’s top offensive threat. Even if said threat is Jaromir Jagr, that’s certainly not a recipe for success.

DeBoer took the team to the Stanley Cup Final in 2012, but the main pieces in that squad – Parise and Kovalchuk – bolted and were hardly even attempted to be replaced. Granted it’s hard to get equal value for two stars, but still.

Was DeBoer at fault to some degree? Sure.

Also says the story:

The Devils rank 28th in the league in averaging 2.11 goals per game and rank 27th in 5-on-5 goals with just 51.

Defensively and in net, they have been inconsistent and they have used as many as four defensemen 24 or younger on some nights. They rank 18th in goals-against average at 2.72.

And as for the fact that DeBoer was fired the day after Christmas? Lamoriello had fired former coach John MacLean on Dec. 23, 2010. So there is precedent. Make as many “Die Hard” jokes as you want.