Steve Yzerman talked about needing to be on his game. He had come home to a mess, and sorting through that to a path forward loomed as a demanding task.

One year after being appointed general manager of the Detroit Red Wings, he has put a small but significant imprint on the team. He has jettisoned a couple of underperforming veterans for draft picks, flipped a waiver pickup for a player who looks like he can be a part of the future, mined waiver wires and taken at least one gamble that he may lose.

When Yzerman took command of a team in rebuild mode on April 19, 2019 — an appropriate date for the man whose No. 19 was sent to the rafters six months after he retired in July 2006 — he was emphatic about the need for patience.

He would know: It took 14 years for The Captain to win his first Stanley Cup as a player, and that was after hitting the mother lode in the 1989 draft, which yielded Hall of Famers Nicklas Lidstrom and Sergei Fedorov.

Yzerman knows it from the manager’s side, too, having taken control of a Tampa Bay Lightning team in 2010 that already featured center Steven Stamkos and defenseman Victor Hedman and still missing the playoffs three times in his seven years as GM.

When Yzerman returned to manage the Wings, they had missed the playoffs three straight years. He knew 2019-20 would be rough. He told coach Jeff Blashill to prioritize developing young players and not worry about the record.

Even so, it’s doubtful anyone in the organization envisioned the Wings would win just 17 of the 71 games when the NHL shut down March 12 because of the novel coronavirus. Their 17-49-5 record ensured a last-place finish.

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Yzerman maintains a low profile and tight inner circle. But the patience he asked for last April very much remains in demand as he continues to steer the Wings toward the playoffs.

Here is a look at Yzerman’s first year in office.

Signings

Yzerman forayed into free agency in July to sign veteran forward and former Wing Valtteri Filppula (two years, $3 million annual cap hit), veteran defenseman Patrik Nemeth (two years, $3 million cap hit) and journeyman goaltender Calvin Pickard (two years, $750,000 cap hit).

Filppula has a reputation as a reliable two-way forward but he struggled to demonstrate that on a team as bad as the Wings, registering 21 points and a minus-42 rating in 70 games. Nemeth (nine points, minus-10 in 64 games) was the solid defender the Wings expected him to be.

Pickard was a disappointment; he was supposed to be insurance for Jimmy Howard or Jonathan Bernier, but he played so poorly in three NHL appearances (5.46 goals-against average, .797 save percentage) that he wasn’t called up even as Howard’s play deteriorated.

Trades

There’s something to be said for trading with those you know well. In August, Yzerman acquired forward Adam Erne from former understudy Julien BriseBois, who succeeded Yzerman as general manager of the Lightning.

The Lightning received a 2020 fourth-round pick for Erne, who brings a measure of physicality, but the Wings expected more offense than two goals (in one game) and five points and a minus-24 rating in 56 games.

Yzerman made two trades in October. The first was to acquire defenseman Alex Biega from the Vancouver Canucks for prospect David Pope, a fourth-round pick from 2013 who has been a bust. He turned pro in 2018 after four years at University of Nebraska-Omaha, but struggled to even make it at the AHL level. Biega is a hard worker who earned a one-year extension in early March.

The second trade acquired former first-round pick Brendan Perlini from the Chicago Blackhawks for defense prospect Alec Regula, a third-round pick from 2018. Despite being given a chance in the top six and on the power play, Perlini failed to produce, with one goal among four points in 39 games.

Regula, who is 6-foot-4, 205 pounds and shoots right-handed, had 60 points in 56 games with the London Knights in 2019-20.

That trade looks like a loss, but flipping grinder Jacob de la Rose to the St. Louis Blues for former first-round pick Robby Fabbri in early November was a win. Fabbri scored two power-play goals in his debut, and ranks third on the team with 31 points in 52 games since Nov. 8.

It’d be nice to see Fabbri improve defensively (minus-29 rating). but he was a welcome addition for a team that lacks firepower.

Yzerman made another trade at the end of November when he sent defenseman Vili Saarijarvi, a third-round pick from 2015 who no longer fit in the system, to the Arizona Coyotes for goaltender Eric Comrie.

Comrie's audition lasted three games (4.28 GAA, .864 save percentage) before the Wings put him on waivers. A minor-league trade in December saw defenseman Oliwer Kaski shipped to Carolina’s farm system for defenseman Kyle Wood.

The next trades Yzerman made were at the Feb. 24 deadline, when he swung two deals with Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland, whom Yzerman succeeded in Detroit. Yzerman acquired a 2020 conditional fourth-round pick for defenseman Mike Green, and second-round picks in 2020 and 2021, along with veteran Sam Gagner, for Andreas Athanasiou and Ryan Kuffner. Green was a pending unrestricted free agent, and Athanasiou had had a disappointing season with just 10 goals in 46 games.

Waivers

Yzerman claimed two players off waivers in February. Defenseman Cody Goloubef, 30, was discarded by the Ottawa Senators. He played two games, then was a healthy scratch.

Forward Dmytro Timashov 23, was abandoned by the Toronto Maple Leafs. It took a few days to straighten out his visa (“Ukrainian with a Swedish passport,” as Blashill put it) but he looked like he can add a bit of bite to the lineup after appearing in five games.

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What's next

Yzerman has not revealed whether he intends to change coaches. During his last news conference, at the trade deadline, he backed Blashill and said it was unfair to judge him on the team’s record. That was three days after the Wings were eliminated from playoff contention for a fourth straight year. If Yzerman does make a change, former teammates Gerard Gallant and Lane Lambert are believed to be the front-runners.

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Yzerman has to finalize plans for whenever the 2020 draft takes place — a last-place finish, under normal draft lottery guidelines, means the Wings will pick no worse than fourth overall. The uncertainty of the situation surrounding the remainder of the season and the salary cap will affect free-agency planning, but Yzerman will, by market or by trade, have to acquire a goaltender to replace Howard.

Yzerman watched the majority of the Wings’ home games from the manager’s suite at Little Caesars Arena, seeing a product that struggled to compete. He engineered a handful of changes, but as he embarks on Year 2, there is so much more to do.

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter.