It’s been a very interesting offseason for the Pittsburgh Penguins. In his first true summer on the job as a general manager (with a season of him in charge to better evaluate), Kyle Dubas led a very uncharacteristic offseason for the Penguins.

He made multiple deals to acquire undesirable contracts, getting draft picks in the process to do so. The summer featured a lot of moves that help quietly set the stage for a rebuild that Dubas is either unwilling or unable to officially declare.

However, there was also some crafty moves made, clouding the real perspective on this team’s intentions for the 2024-25 season.

There’s no guarantee that the Penguins are done this offseason is over; August has been unusually busy across the NHL this year, and Pittsburgh has been no exception. But, I thought it would be fun to try and rank every trade that the team has made since June and see where they all stand.

So without further ado, here we are.

6:  Lukas Svejkovsky to Tampa Bay | Bennett MacArthur to Pittsburgh

This trade ranks at the bottom because well, on paper the Penguins downgraded, it really doesn’t impact anything or anyone except for the two men who were swapped for each other.

Lukas Svejkovsky split last season between the AHL and ECHL, playing 19 in the former and 30 in the latter. In the AHL, he put up 2 goals and 2 assists, while in the ECHL he tallied 16 goals and 21 assists.

MacArthur, who the Penguins got back, played much more in the ECHL, with 40 games there as opposed to just 3 AHL games. He had 10 goals and 19 assists in those 40 ECHL games.

The Penguins acquired a 23-year old player who was spent more time in a lower level league, in exchange for a 22-year old player who was more consistently in the AHL last year.

In all likelihood, this trade ends up being nothing. But as it stands right now, it’s one of those weird minor league swaps that just doesn’t really make sense for Pittsburgh.