The New Jersey Devils players learned this morning that John MacLean was no longer their head coach.

Devils GM Lou Lamoriello met with the players this morning to discuss his decision. In the interim, he has selected Jacques Lemaire to coach this Titanic of a team until the end of the season.

For the Devils, firing MacLean was a tough decision. The players rallied behind him and said that it wasn’t him, it was them.

But, according to Tom Gulitti’s tweets, Lamoriello wanted to stick by MacLean, but had a change of heart after the Devils lost the last four out of five games.  This had been the status quo for the Devils all season long. They stand just outside of last place in the league by only one notch behind the New York Islanders

This may be the Devils last chance to turn the team around. Lemaire is currently on a plane to New Jersey. He will be behind the bench tonight when the Devils take on the Islanders.