Lou Lamoriello, Scott Stevens, Adam Oates lead New Jersey; three more Devils confirmed with mumps

A bizarre season continues for the Devils.

Not only was coach Peter DeBoer relieved of his duties Friday and replaced behind the bench Saturday by team president and general manager Lou Lamoriello and a pair of co-coaches, but three more Devils were confirmed with mumps, bringing their total to five.

DeBoer, who was hired in July 2011, was notified Friday by Lamoriello that the team's 12-17-7 record wasn't cutting it.

Strangely, Lamoriello did not immediately announce who would replace DeBoer until Saturday, and when he did, it was an unusual trio.

Lamoriello stole a page from football's playbook, essentially choosing temporary offensive and defensive coordinators.

Former Devils defenseman Scott Stevens was assigned to oversee the defense, former Devils center and ex-Capitals coach Adam Oates will control the offense, and Lamoriello temporarily will provide guidance behind the bench.

"It's certainly been a very interesting last 48 hours," Lamoriello said. "I tried to come up with what was, in my opinion, the best way of getting our team to do certain things and getting the most out of the personnel we have . . . Scott will be running the defense. Adam will be running the forwards. For a short period of time, I will go on the bench just, to myself, find out a little bit more about our players, about some of their habits and what is transpiring. I know this is a unique way."

Neither Stevens or Oates has a title, and Lamoriello said he did not contact any other coaches on the market. His intention, he said, is to have a single coach next season.

"I'm not looking at the past and I'm not looking at the future right now," Lamoriello said. "What I'm looking at is us taking one game at a time and being the best team we can possibly be. And my message was to the players: Don't worry about the end result of a game. That will take care of itself."

The Devils saw their slide grow to 1-5-3 with Saturday night's 3-1 loss to the Rangers at the Garden. Even worse, forwards Patrik Elias and Michael Ryder and backup goalie Scott Clemmensen were diagnosed with mumps and isolated. Forward Travis Zajac and defenseman Adam Larsson, who previously had mumps, returned to the lineup.