Mayor announces new plan to keep 76ers arena in South Philadelphia

The Philadelphia 76ers will partner with Comcast Spectacor, their current landlord, to build a new arena in South Philadelphia and abandon a deal with the city to move downtown.

TORONTO — The Toronto Maple Leafs’ top priority speeding toward the trade deadline is clear.

The upside of surviving the first half of a season spiked with injuries at all positions is that Brad Treliving has had plenty of time to root around the cupboards and pinpoint the deficiencies in his roster depth.

The GM’s centre depth — already an area of concern heading into training camp — has fallen under particular scrutiny during the prolonged absences of Auston Matthews and David Kämpf.

Max Domi is fine short-term but, as a skilled playmaker who lacks some faceoff prowess and defensive responsibility, is better suited to the wing come playoff time. Pontus Holmberg has slipped to healthy-scratch territory. And Fraser Minten, while promising, needs more seasoning.

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Treliving has been afforded a good, long fiddle under the hood and realizes he needs to take this baby to the mechanic before March 7.

“The one thing with … the amount of injuries we’ve had up front is, we’ve been able to take a look at what we’ve got internally, right? Which is important. So, we’ve seen some guys come up and play well. It gives you a little insight into what you have within the organization. Guys get put into different roles. Guys from the Marlies come up,” Treliving said Monday at the club’s practice facility.

“I think we got (centre) depth. Got lots of guys that can play the position. Is it an area that we continue to try to upgrade?”

In short: Yes. At 3C.

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The importance of that specific position was underscored to the Maple Leafs last week in Carolina.

Treliving is content to roll with stars Matthews and John Tavares as the pivots of his top six.

“How can you talk anything but positively of the year John’s had, right?” Treliving said. “So to say you’re going to go and get somebody above that, I don’t think that’s realistic. Is there ways that we can continue to look at adding to that? Sure.

“Sure, it’s one. But we, probably along with 15 or 18 other teams, would like to add centre depth. So, it seems to be a position du jour.”

Treliving wants a centre who is both defensively reliable and can boost a once-fearsome offence that has been shut out thrice and slumped to 12th leaguewide (3.07 goals per game).

“What you want and sometimes what’s available are two different things,” said Treliving, wise not to overpromise. “So, we’ll keep looking.”

Get ready to hear names like Yanni Gourde, Brock Nelson, Scott Laughton, Mikael Granlund, and Nick Bjugstad as Treliving weighs how much of the future (2026’s first-rounder, prospects Easton Cowan, Minten, and Ben Danford) to mortgage in a relatively soft season for the Eastern Conference.

“That’s the balance, right?” Treliving said. “You know, it’s not fantasy hockey. You got to see what’s available. You look at good teams, too: You need to have those good, young players on, quite frankly, entry-level deals and lower money. Those help you be successful as well, too. So, it’s a balance.”

So… about those extensions?

As has been the plan since the outset of Tavares and Mitch Marner’s contract seasons, Treliving is keeping mum publicly on the state of extension negotiations. Ditto pending RFA Matthew Knies.

“Oh, those are things that we always are looking at and talking about and rumbling around, but nothing to report right now,” the GM said.

Considering the Leafs would prefer to add a centre with term, how important is to get cap clarity on the Tavares and Marner files before the deadline?

“You probably can throw a dart within the vicinity if they aren’t signed. So, certainly having guys signed, you know exactly what their number is,” Treliving said. “But, again, you keep working at it. Until there’s a deal, there’s not a deal.”

Matthews on track for 4 Nations

Treliving assures Matthews is doing well since returning to action on Jan. 4, following the captain’s second prolonged stint on IR to nurse his nagging upper-body injury.

Matthews has racked up eight points in his five games since his latest return and was buzzing at Monday’s practice, giving Treliving nothing to fret about with regards to the player’s participation in February’s 4 Nations Face-Off.

“But we still are maybe a month away. So, with all the players, you look at where they’re at at that time. And hopefully there’s no setbacks, and everything keeps moving forward,” Treliving said.

“We’re all day to day, aren’t we? So, we gave it a lot of time; he put a lot of work into getting through it. And, touch wood, that we’re on the other side of it.”

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Power play is top priority

Treliving is pleased with the strength of Toronto’s goaltending and the strides his group has made on the penalty kill and defensive end.

“I think we’re viewed as a team that checks well and defends the front of our net and doesn’t give up a lot of easy ice,” he said.

Now, the exec wants to see progress in generating offence at even strength (“We’ve seen it in spurts,” he encouraged) and, more critically, on the man advantage.

“It has been a top power play for a number of years. So that, to me, is an area that can get cleaned up,” Treliving said. “The power play needs to be a difference-maker for us, and it hasn’t been right now. So, that’s certainly an area of focus.”

In the wake of Saturday’s hideous 0-for-3 performance, PP coach Marc Savard dragged the top unit — Matthews, Marner, Tavares, Matthew Knies, and William Nylander — out before Monday’s full team skate and stripped it down to basics.

Without any defenders in the way, the five forwards worked on one-touch passing around the horn and quick shots. Then they practised their break-ins.

The power play was given another round of reps against the PK later in practice.

“Five forwards has given us success this year,” coach Craig Berube explained of the switch.

We don’t see the nuclear option — two balanced units — coming anytime soon.

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One-Timers: Jake McCabe (upper body) left practice after about 10 minutes of work, as the club exercises caution. “He’s doing really well,” Berube said. “There’s no setbacks with him, so it’s good to see.”… Jani Hakanpää (knee) was a full participant, but there is no timeline for his return to game action.… Anthony Stolarz (knee) has not skated yet…. Veteran Max Pacioretty looks to be a healthy scratch for the second time in three games…. The Leafs hosted the Chinese national men’s team at practice, and the players were thrilled to shoot iPhone video of an NHL dressing room.

Maple Leafs projected lineup Tuesday vs. Dallas Stars:

Lorentz – Matthews – Marner

Knies – Tavares – Nylander

McMann – Domi – Robertson

Dewar – Kämpf – Reaves

Rielly – Myers

Ekman-Larsson – Tanev

Benoit – Timmins

Woll starts

Hildeby