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Sports

Devils GM Lamoriello returns to bench with Oates, Stevens

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

Newark, NJ (SportsNetwork.com) - Devils president and general manager Lou Lamoriello has come up with a "unique" solution to fix the team's coaching situation.

After firing head coach Peter DeBoer on Friday, Lamoriello announced on Saturday that he will join Scott Stevens and Adam Oates behind the bench.

Oates will have full control of the forwards, while Stevens will have full control over the defensemen. Neither Oates nor Stevens was given an official title.

"It's certainly been a very interesting last 48 hours," said Lamoriello, who will go behind the bench for an unspecified period of time. "The decision was made to go forward. I tried to come up with, in my opinion, what was the best way to get our team to do certain things and get the most out of personnel we have."

New Jersey lost to the New York Rangers, 3-1, at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

Lamoriello said that it would be unfair to ask one person to come in and be the head coach for the rest of the season.

Assistant coach Dave Barr was dismissed.

This marks the third time Lamoriello has been behind the bench for New Jersey, all of them coming after he fired a coach in-season. He has posted an impressive 34-14-5 regular season record in two brief stints dating back to 2005-2006 and 2006-2007.

DeBoer led the Devils to a 12-17-7 start. He was in his fourth season as New Jersey's coach.

The Devils were 114-93-41 under DeBoer. DeBoer's best season in New Jersey was his first as he guided the team to a 48-28-6 record in 2011-12. The Devils represented the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Finals, but lost to the Los Angeles Kings in six games.

Oates and Stevens are both in the Hockey Hall of Fame as players, with the latter man known best for time spent as captain of the Devils from 1992 until his retirement following the 2003-04 season. He helped lead New Jersey to three Stanley Cup titles during that time.

Both Oates and Stevens previously served as assistant coaches for the Devils. Oates was on DeBoer's staff when the club reached the 2012 Cup Finals before leaving to become the head coach of the Washington Capitals. He was fired by the Capitals last spring after two seasons with the club.

Stevens served as an assistant under DeBoer in 2013-14 before stepping down prior to this season.