The John Hynes era is over.

The Devils fired their head coach late Tuesday afternoon, the club confirmed in a news release. The news was first reported on NJ.com’s texting subscription service, Devils Insider.

Assistant Alain Nasreddine will take over an interim head coach.

The move ends Hynes’ tenure in New Jersey during his fifth season. The Devils’ rocky start to the season increased the heat under Hynes behind the bench, and though the team rebounded slightly with a 7-7-1 November, the Devils suffered back-to-back humiliating defeats on Saturday and Monday, losing 4-0 to the Rangers and 7-1 to the Buffalo Sabres.

Nasreddine will make his debut coaching the Devils against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday.

Devils NHL scout Peter Horachek will also join the coaching staff as an assistant coach.

Nasreddine was the lone member of Hynes’ original staff still with the Devils. He has served under Hynes as an assistant every season going back to 2010-11, when the two were coaching together with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the AHL.

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Hynes was hired to coach the Devils on June 2, 2015, after Shero was named the team’s general manager in May of that year, replacing long-time GM Lou Lamoriello.

Lamoriello left the organization in July of 2015 to become general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, officially marking the start of a new era of Devils hockey.

Hynes was behind the bench for the duration of the Devils’ current rebuild, and Shero stuck with the coach throughout the process, allowing him to grow with the team. Hynes received a multi-year contract extension during the 2018-19 season, which was the final year of his original deal.

But following a spending spree in the offseason and heightened expectations entering the this season, the Devils stumbled out of the gate, starting 0-4-2, with a pair of games where they lost after holding leads of three goals or more.

In the lopsided loss to the Sabres, the Devils played arguably their worst game of the season.

Hynes has a 150-159-18 record during his four-plus seasons with the Devils. The team made the playoffs in 2017-18 with 97 points, and the team played to a surprising 38-36-8 record during his first season in 2015-16. But the Devils also finished toward the bottom of the standings twice, posting 70 points in 2016-17 and 72 points in 2018-19.

The Devils received the No. 1 overall pick in the NHL Draft in 2017 and 2019 after those two down seasons, helping expedite their rebuild. But even with Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes selected No. 1 overall, plus the additions of Taylor Hall, P.K. Subban and more over recent seasons, the Devils haven’t yet been able to reestablish themselves as a consistent contender.

Shero has always been conservative in making coaching changes during his time as an NHL general manager. With the Devils and the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2006-2014, he’s only had three different coaches. Only one — Michel Therrien — was fired by Shero. He was the coach of the Penguins when Shero was hired, and Therrien was fired midseason during the 2008-09 campaign. The Penguins won the Stanley Cup later that season.

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