Goalkeeper Dubravka and defender Krafth both penned new deals on Thursday.
Ahead of Sunday's clash with Nottingham Forest, Howe discussed the pair's new contracts: "Pleased to sign Martin to a new contract. That was important in January, we definitely didn't want to destabilise the team or the group with a departure in a position that we couldn't afford that to happen. So yeah, delighted he's staying.
"I don't see a change in Martin, he's very experienced. Especially during that month of January, which was probably the most challenging time for him because there was, as you say, a bit of uncertainty over his future.
"He responded really well to that, partly down to his experience, and he's probably seen all of these situations before in his career. So yeah, it's over now and he can just focus on his football."
On Krafth, he also said: "I think with Emil - firstly his character and his attitude stands out. He's very reliable, a consistent performer, but his versatility, his ability to play different roles is so important for a small squad to have players that can cover in various positions.
"I think whenever he's played this year, he's been very, very good, so I think he fully deserves his contract extension."
Newcastle face Forest on the back of last week's 4-0 defeat at Manchester City, though Howe drew a positive from Lewis Miley's performance on the day.
He said, "I think his performance against Manchester City, as you say, was probably the one big positive to take from the game because there wasn't many.
"He approached the game in a way that really we should have done from the start. He was brave in both phases, aggressive, off the ball, brave on the ball. Fearless in his approach and I thought he played very strongly."
With visiting Forest will be in-form centre-forward Chris Wood, who enjoyed good success with the Magpies under Howe. The Toon manager says he's happy for the Kiwi.
"I think he's been outstanding. Chris, when he came to us, helped us in a really difficult situation. Fighting relegation, we felt we needed a focal point in that position.
"So he would take a lot of pressure off us as a team, and give us a physical presence, but we did all those things. I thought he was outstanding for the team. Probably often underestimated how much he affected our style and our play that enabled us to stay in the league, and he was an ever present and did really well.
"He ended up moving on and I'm just delighted for him on a personal level because he's a great character, gave everything for us. I can remember him doing so much for the team, filling in positions, sprinting back, doing things that centre forwards don't normally do.
"He's still doing that for Forest, but he's scoring a lot of goals as well."
On facing Forest after last week's setback at City, Howe says he's been pleased with the attitude of the players in training. Newcastle will face Forest sitting in seventh place, three points away from third-place City.
Howe said, "The attitude to training is very good. The attitude and hunger is there to put the last performance to bed and put it right. We have very strong characters behind the team. A very strong attitude to represent the club in the right way and I think that is at our heart and is one of our biggest strengths.
"Then there is really strong leadership within the player group, they know the expectations that they need to reach. We didn’t do that as a group last week, but there is really strong will to come back and fight back."