The Toronto Maple Leafs have no first round pick to trade in 2025, they have no current cap space, and their team is not currently good enough to win the Stanley Cup.
Now, don't get me wrong, the Toronto Maple Leafs - with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner on their team - are more than capable of getting lucky at the right time and fluking into their first Stanley Cup since 1967.
Sure, they are capable of getting lucky, but they aren't favorites by any means. If they want to improve their chances and become favorites, they need to overcome the fact that their roster is extremely thin at centre ice, and their blue-line, without a legitimate star defenseman, is, at best, middle-of-the-pack.
How to do turn this team into a Cup Contender under the current restraints is the problem that Brendan Shanhan and Brad Treliving currently face. I believe I have the answer, however.
Up Against the Cap w/ Limited Assets: How to Win the Maple Leafs a Stanley Cup
Step One: Three Stars, Three Lines
Depth scoring is only an issue beause the Leafs refuse to split up their franchise players. By playing Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner on seperate lines, the Leafs will make up to six other player better, because franchise players make everyone they play with into better players.
Pairing up two franchise players subjects the team to the law of diminishing returns, which simply means that Marner, Matthews and Nylander are so good by themselves that they can't really get too much better when paired with a fellow superstar. This doesn't happen to lesser players, who see massive upticks in performance when they skate with one of these players.
By splitting up their three best players, they won't need to spend big on forward upgrades and can use their limited assets to improve their blue-line.