Blue Jackets forward Brandon Saad lets his play do the talking

Brandon Saad knows a thing or two about championship teams.

The 24-year-old left-winger was a key member of the supporting cast of the Chicago Blackhawks teams that won Stanley Cups in 2013 and 2015. And while Saad is not about to proclaim his Columbus Blue Jackets to be legitimate Stanley Cup contenders – certainly not this early in the season – he likes what he is seeing.

After 24 games the Blue Jackets were 15-5-4 with a goal differential of plus-24. Their 34 points had them in fifth place overall and made them, along with the Montreal Canadiens, one of the NHL's most surprising teams in the early going.

"I think we are showing a lot of signs of what it takes to be a winner," Saad said. "The way we're winning games by battling back, holding onto leads and competing every night. We have great goaltending and we are strong defensively. All the signs are there. It's still really early, but right now we are heading in the right direction."

The 6-foot-1, 206-pound Saad is coming off his best NHL season having scored 31 goals and 53 points in 78 games last year. A salary cap casualty with Chicago, Saad has been a great addition to the Blue Jackets who finished 27th last season. Saad hopes his Stanley Cup-winning experience will come in handy.

Make no mistake about it: Saad is a laidback dude who is not the type to flash his Stanley Cup rings to his teammates. Instead, he chooses to let his play do his talking and his seemingly casual approach sometimes gets under the skin of Blue Jackets fiery coach John Tortorella. At one point Tortorella had a meeting with Saad and said he was thinking about making the Pittsburgh native a healthy scratch. The coach ultimately changed his mind, but not before saying to Saad, "how did we get to this point?"

"I'm not much of a rah-rah guy," Saad admitted. "If guys want to talk about winning Cups, that is fine, but for the most part they all know what I have been through so I just fall back on my experiences and try to lead by example on and off the ice and hopefully the young players will follow."

World Cup experience

Saad, a member of the very exciting Team North America which featured players 23 and under, said playing in the World Cup was a great experience. He believes participating in the World Cup got him super prepared for the 2016-17 NHL season.

"I think it helped, for sure," Saad said. "Being around those types of guys and playing against the best players in the league helped us get in great shape and game-ready form."

And yet Saad had something of a slow start to his year, scoring just once in Columbus's first six games. He is up to seven goals and 21 points in 24 games, good for fourth best on the team. He has been heating up with four points in the past three games.

Columbus is riding a four-game winning streak and is 7-1-2 in their past 10 games. Saad said the Blue Jackets philosophy is very simple: take things one day at a time and let the record take care of itself. One year after losing their first eight games of the season, the Blue Jackets are showing maturity and determination.

Saad said winning championships is addictive.

"I think you want to win as much as possible," Saad said. "Once you get a taste of winning you always want to get back to that stage."