Penguins make minor league trade with Tampa, send Svejkovsky for Bennett MacArthur

Swap of minor leaguers happens on Sunday

The Pittsburgh Penguins have made a swap of minor league forwards with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Pens get forward Bennett MacArthur, the Lightning pick up forward Lukas Svjekovsky.

MacArthur, 23, was an undrafted player who has spent more time in the ECHL (108 games) than the AHL (8 games) over his two-year pro career. MacArthur put up 29 points in 43 games with the ECHL Allen Americans last season.

Svejkovsky, 22, was a fourth round pick in 2020 that is now two generations ago in Pittsburgh management. The small winger had a successful junior career in the WHL, but ended up going the wrong way on the depth chart and appeared in more ECHL games last season than AHL contests after struggling to find a niche and consistent playing time in Wilkes-Barre over the previous two seasons.

As such, this is likely a bigger move for Wheeling than anyone else. MacArthur probably figures to slot in there and have a shot at AHL games depending on how things go. It wasn’t working out for Svejkovsky with the Pittsburgh organization either, so this transaction allows both players to get a crack at fresh starts somewhere new before their contracts expire after the 2024-25 season.