Competition will force players to be better
It is not just an old saying, but a very real principle that the more guys on a team who have to compete for better spots, the better they play. It is hard to find a team in the NHL that provides more opportunities for competition than the Predators.
Guys like Filip Forsberg, Ryan O’Reilly, Roman Josi, and Saros are obviously safe in that they will have the biggest roles on the team, but pretty much everything else is up for grabs. And because there simply is not enough room, some guys will not get the spots they deserve.
The O’Reilly signing turned the center position into an absolute logjam, and made the second spot a three-way competition between Cody Glass, Tommy Novak, and Juuso Parssinen. That is not to mention that Colton Sissons is a virtual lock for the fourth spot, meaning that one of the other three guys will surely be forced to play on the wing, which all will try very hard to avoid.
Heck, even beyond all of that, the O’Reilly move made Novak’s future in Nashville extremely murky, and he especially will have a chip on his shoulder, which can only make him better.
Now how about the defense, especially when you get to the youth. Dante Fabbro seems like the odd man out, but as long as he is on the team, you cannot just not play him.
That being said, he has to beat out Alexandre Carrier, Luke Schenn, and Jeremy Lauzon, and Jake Livingstone and Spencer Stastney will be fighting for their opportunities as well. All six of the guys just mentioned will have to absolutely prove something if they want to be in the lineup night in and night out, because again, there are many deserving guys but not enough spots to go around.
There are other areas of potential competition besides the main ones just mentioned, but that in itself is more than most teams have. Nothing is ever given, but on this team things will especially have to be earned, and it should naturally make the players and entire team better.