Pete DeBoer, who coached the New Jersey Devils to the Stanley Cup finals in his first season in 2011-12, was fired Friday, with his aging and diminished team in danger of missing the playoffs for a third straight season.

Devils president and general manager Lou Lamoriello would not say who will be the next coach until he speaks Saturday with the players, who are on a three-day Christmas break. The Devils will have a pre-game skate at the Prudential Center on Saturday morning before playing the Rangers in New York that night.

New Jersey has been hit with injuries in a 12-17-7 season. It has not won consecutive games since early last month, going 3-8-5 in its last 16. The Devils were missing six regulars to either injury or illness Tuesday night when they lost 2-1 in a shootout to the Carolina Hurricanes, the NHL's second-worst team.

"I know that no one wants to hear excuses and I am not going to make any, but I am definitely not going to throw our guys under the bus," DeBoer said Tuesday. "Guys are trying."

The problem is the guys are not as talented as they used to be.

DeBoer is the third NHL coach to be fired this season, following Paul MacLean in Ottawa and Dallas Eakins in Edmonton.

- Associated Press