Now that Hurricane Matthew is pretty much over, what BENIFITS did it have for palms? I heard hurricanes are good at distributing palm seeds. Is that about it? 

I saw a lot of dead Sabal fronds on the ground while watching coverage of the storm. So maybe it was good at pruning palms?

That's very interesting as far hurricanes spreading sabal seeds; makes sense. At Congaree Park,  I read a brochure that stated that hurricanes over the years have toppled the very large trees in the swamp, opening up holes in the treeline for sabal minor seeds to germinate, sprout and benefit from the sunlight reaching the forest floor. This could definitely apply to sabal palmettos, too.

 

On a different note, one very large and old palmetto tree at the statehouse grounds in Columbia toppled over. It was a sad sight  It makes you wonder how sabal palmettos don't topple over easier than other trees since their roots are significantly smaller and less robust than trees like oaks or even pines?

Wind makes trees more wind resistant, provided they aren't significantly damaged by the wind. Sandy knocked many trees around here sideways, and a lot of them fell in subsequent storms, but those that still stand will likely fair a lot better in the next hurricane or high wind event.

The only bright side that I saw is that it made some room for more palms. 

Everyone on the west coast of FL got some rain out of it so that's positive at least.