Such an odd thread.
Personally I think MDZ IS to mid pairing Dman who plays against top lines. The reason Gudas posted better numbers without MDZ is that Gjist and MDZ went against hop lines, while Gudas dropped down to play against lesser lines.
Morin does have top 4 potential. But he will always play behind Provy IMO and if MDZ is re-signed, behind him too for awhile.
No one that I remember were ever saying trade Couts because of Laughton. We had a couple of fools trying to downplay Couts and his impact on our team. They have since disappeared fir the most part. But what we DID have in Berube, was a coach who gifted Laughton offensive 2nd line minutes as a rookie. I WAS ONE OF THE PEOPLE SCREAMING FOR COUTS TO BE USED IN THAT ROLE SINCE HE WAS A FORMER JR SCORING CHAMP. I WANTED LAUGHTON GIVEN THE COUTS TREATMENT AND FOCUS ON DEFENSE. AND YES, THE FEW FOOLS SAID COUTS DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH OFFENSIVE TALENT TO BE A #2 C. BUT AS I SAID, THEY HAVE PRETTY MUCH DISAPPEARED. Helps that we fired the dumb coach too.
As for Sanheim, there is only a few that are even willing to move him. And if so, it currently seems to be for Trouba who is good himself and has upside. It's not like they want to trade him for a depth forward. I want him kept because I think he can be a star with his size, skating, and offensive upside.
I'm one of the fools that thinks you need to have just the right kind of wingers for Couts to be effective offensively. I am a huge believer that championship teams need at least an elite Dman, two really strong scoring lines and dependable Gtnding. I think Couts is an excellent player but not dynamic offensively, IMO he doesn't have NHL scorers hands or mentality but is a fine passer. With the right scoring wingers it might work but count me as one of those who strongly believes our biggest organizational need to effectively compete with the top five teams in the league over the next five years is a dynamic center.