Kyle Dubas made a slew of moves ahead of Friday's trade deadline, all in an effort to put the Penguins in a better position to get back to competing for Stanley Cups. 

That plan did not include parting with Rickard Rakell, who's currently tied for 13th in the NHL with 29 goals. 

"He is a big part of our program," Dubas said Friday afternoon at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. "Everyone has seen this year -- he’s got a long history of the type of player that he is -- but we see him every day, the type of person he is, as well. When you have players that perform that way on a game-in, game-out basis that show the ability to respond when things don’t go well, then can propel themselves back into being near the top of the league and perform at that level, it’s not something that you -- especially when you have them signed and they want to be a part of the community, they want to be part of the program, they know the path that we’re on and they want to be a part of helping to bring the team back to being in contention -- I would say that you don’t just push that out the door because that may be what’s wanted."

Dubas said the market was strong for Rakell, that there was a lot of interest from teams. That makes sense, given the season he's having and that he's under contract for three more seasons at a very affordable annual cap hit of $5 million.

"You have to do what’s right for the Pittsburgh Penguins," Dubas said. "And for us, having Rickard Rakell as part of the Pittsburgh Penguins was definitely the right thing to do as we measured it up against everything. We’re happy to have him. He’s a big part of what we do, and I know he really wants to be here."

No players who have full no-movement clauses in their contracts were traded or were approached by the team to waive those clauses. That includes Erik Karlsson, who was the subject of trade speculation earlier in the week.

"There was no discussion, there was nothing taken to him about waiving his no-move," Dubas said. "And he's not a player that we would look to just move along. He's a hugely valuable player in the league."

Dubas addressed a variety of other topics, all related to the future of the team:

• On what stage of the process the team is in getting back to contention:

"With regards to what stage of the program we're at, think we've spent the last 12 months, almost exactly, accruing assets and accruing flexibility and cap space. Now, we'll begin to shift to the execution of that. That'll be drafting some players using that. I don't know it's feasible to expect that we can use all those draft picks, to use every one of them and then expect all of them, in sequence, to become part of the club. We'll have those assets available for trade. We have cap space available in free agency. And so, we'll shift here a little from asset collection to continuing down that path, but also looking to how we can use the assets that we've acquired, whether it's cap flexibility or draft picks to add to our group and add to our roster. It will still require patience and it may not be as quick as some would like. And our goal, as I've stated here a number of times, is to return the team to contention as urgently as possible."

• On the flexibility of draft capital, taking advantage of still having Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, etc.:

"I think, I try to in my head not focus on taking advantage of what is here. It’s always what is in the best interest of the Penguins. If there are opportunities to use the excess capital that we’ve accumulated, whether it’s cap space or draft picks, to add players to the program to help propel it ahead, we won’t hesitate to do that. I think I’ve always come in and said there is no ambition on my end to have this take any longer than it needs to take, both for the city and for the people who have put in a lot. That’s not just players, but it's staff that has been around for a long time. There is a certain level and, when the level drops off, you don’t want the standards and the core ideology to erode. That’s what we work toward each day."

• On the flexibility/liquidity of having a plethora of picks in the upcoming draft:

"It’ll all be value-based. Obviously, we’re not going to part with our first (round pick). We’ll get greater clarity on what happens with this Rangers pick that we hold from the Drew [O'Connor] and Marcus [Pettersson] trade. They’ll owe us that 48 hours prior to the draft, so we’ll be ready for all situations. Obvious, the Rangers, the way that they’re playing currently, I think what everyone expects of them is that they’re going to make a strong push. If it falls outside that top 13, the pick will come to us and we’ll be ready to execute on it. We’ve got the second now and three thirds. The scouting staff will prepare them as if we have to execute all of them, and we’ve talked about that. Teams around the league know, as we get close to the draft and restricted free agency coming up, whether players are going to re-sign or not, we’ll try to be in the mix for all those young players that fit that next era of the team that can come in and help us right now."

• His message to the current team:

"The message to the current group of players is that I think there’s a certain standard here with the team and we expect that to be upheld throughout the last number of weeks of the season. We expect them to come in, play hard, train, play at their best level each and every day -- there’s a number of guys in that room that have a whole lot to play for, regardless of what stage they’re at in their careers. The coaching staff is going to come in every day, medical staff, performance staff, equipment staff -- they’re going to come in and be at their best every single day. We expect that from the players. There’s a massive amount of opportunities for these guys who are on short-term deals or that have aspirations to remain in the league. Now is a massive opportunity for them to, not only if they’ve had good years to date, continue to improve on their form and assert themselves, but for the guys that haven’t. For the guys who've been up and down in the minors or here, for the new players coming in -- Connor Dewar and Conor Timmins, Tommy Novak -- it’s a great opportunity to assert themselves onto the coaching staff and our staff for where they want to be next season. They’re all under team control. I know it’s not what the fans, media is used to at this time of the year in Pittsburgh. We can’t have this be the norm every single year. But I do think that this gives us a chance to test, to give runway to some of our younger guys as they earn it. We have huge expectations in Wilkes-Barre for what they’re going to do the rest of the year, as well. I know it’s not typical and we won’t allow it to become typical, but I do think this remaining five or six weeks is a great opportunity for the organization and the players within to show us that they're a part of bringing us back into contention."

• Dubas' breakdown of all the new players:

"Conor Timmins, I’ve known a long time. We drafted him in the Soo (Greyhounds) in 2014. He’s played there. He’s been a national team player for Canada. And then a high pick for Colorado. Been part of a trade to Arizona. He’s a good size, incredibly intelligent defenseman. Excellent puck mover. He’s kind of overcome some of the injury stuff that’s plagued him early in his career. We traded for him my last year in Toronto. He’s continued to assert himself there. We think at his age and his capability to move the puck and defend, we still think there’s a lot of potential there. The Leafs are in a different spot. They’re pushing to try to win, as they should. They did a great job in the offseason, great job today and it shakes loose a player that I’m familiar with.

"Dewar, kind of going back to the previous question of expectations -- highly competitive, great teammate, can come in and bring a certain life and spirit to the group. Sort of similar to -- very different, in terms of style of play -- one of the reasons we thought it was important to have Boko here. He brings life, energy and spirit. As we continue to work our way through this, it’s important to have those types of people here. Connor’s much younger. He’s under team control with his status. We’ll give him a good run. We’re excited about him.

"The players in the New Jersey deal. Max Graham was a re-entry draft pick last year. The Devils picked him in the fifth round out of Kelowna in the Western League. Big, physical winger who this year got off to a great start, playing his best hockey. He had an injury that ended his season. We viewed it as an opportunity, when we were going through this situation with them when they had expressed interest in Cody Glass. The draft pick was one part, but being able to add a player like Max where we felt maybe because of the injury he could be available and we liked him. We don’t have a lot of players like that in the system that combine that size, toughness and ability. We’ll have him in here with our medical people. He had knee surgery, so he’ll miss the rest of the year. But we’ll get him back up and running for the prospect tournament in Buffalo in September.

"Chase Stillman is a player that I just have a long familiarity with. He played in the OHL. He was a first-round pick of the Devils in 2021. He’s in the second year of his entry-level deal now. He won a championship in Peterborough a few seasons ago. A highly competitive winger that you know what you’re going to get from every night. He’s going to play hard, play physical. He’s got an offensive history that just hasn’t come to the surface yet at the American League level. But we’ll look forward to working with him. He’s in Utica tonight. He’s going to drive to Wilkes tomorrow. He’ll play for Wilkes and, hopefully, be a big part of helping them.

"Two younger guys and a draft pick there for us from New Jersey that we’re excited about."

• How to be urgent in getting back into contention with this approach, given the age and the contract status of many of the guys that are the core of this group, and all the things he's done to add future assets:

"Relative to the age of the group and their contracts, my goal is to try and build a group around those guys and give them one or two chances while they’re still on those contracts. They’re varying lengths. Geno’s is different from Sid’s which is different than (Kris Letang). The only two that really line up are Sid and Erik. (Bryan Rust) and Raks I’d put in that, as well, they both have three years after this year. They line up more with Kris. It’s trying to find guys that come in -- whether they’re our own players who come from Wilkes-Barre that are there now driving the team as younger players, or draft picks, or using those assets to add younger players. We’re not going to use those assets to add older guys. We have to make and execute smart decisions that help to drive the Penguins forward. So, when I said it might not be as soon as people like, what I don't want to have be the narrative or the expectation is that we're going to immediately spend all these assets this summer. If the right moves are there, then we will execute on those. But we can't do the work we've done the last 12 months ... I knew coming in here that that decision would come, and it was going to be on me to make, and it wasn't going to be popular. But that's the position that I chose, and really, the way I viewed the opportunity that I chose in coming to Pittsburgh -- was that I knew with it was going to come that difficult time. We did that last year. It started with moving Jake [Guentzel] to Carolina, and we've continued down that path through this season. Started with Lars [Eller] in November, and obviously this situation here this week. So, what I want to do is temper the expectation that we're going to use all these right away this summer and do whatever we have to do with them. We're going to survey the landscape as urgently as we can each day to find moves that can best help propel the team ahead. If there aren't moves available, we will execute on these picks with our personnel staff -- with Andy Saucier and Wes Clark -- to make sure we're bringing the best young talent that we can. How it lines up with the older players, all I can give is my pledge that we are going through everything we can to attempt to have them all have one last chance, or multiple, depending on how long they play. I'm not going to start to doubt with these guys. You've been around them longer than I have. I don't want to put a time limit on them, because they're all special people and special players, as everyone in the room knows better than I, because they've experienced it firsthand here. But that's our ambition, and that's what we’ll do."