NYIHN Exclusive: One on One with Aidan Fulp

After one full day of NHL Training Camp, one thing has become increasingly clear about Aidan Fulp:

This kid can skate and play. Then, he can skate and skate again.

Fulp in Camp

Head Coach Patrick Roy’s training camp has focused heavily on physical battles and skating fitness. For Roy, it’s all about hard work and physicality during camp.

Fortunately, that’s right in the wheelhouse for Fulp. The bruising 24-year-old defenseman continued to turn heads with his unbelievable fitness throughout, battling hard against NHL Competition before the bag skate that ended each session followed.

Fulp led the rookies easily last week. Today, he outpaced Noah Dobson and Alexander Romanov by an entire zone length. Just watch this video I took and posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.

https://x.com/rustymac26/status/1836803540834001010

That’s a truly unbelievable pace. It’s day one for the pros, but not for guys like Isaiah George, who was also out there for that bag skate.

Who Did He Skate With?

Fulp skated with George during line rush drills, and that pairing could really work well for Bridgeport. George has more of an offensive touch from the backend, while Fulp shuts it down.

After the skate, I had the opportunity to chat one-on-one with Fulp after his first full day of Pro Camp, and the whole conversation was really good intel from Fulp about how he approaches training camp, skating with George, and his game overall.

The full back-and-forth will be lightly edited for clarity.

Q and A With Fulp

Q- Aidan, first day with the big camp. How did you feel out there, and how different is it when you have Patrick Roy really barking and being loud out there?

A- Yeah, being out there with Coach Roy and, obviously, the NHL group was a pretty surreal feeling. It’s definitely a step up in pace. Guys are competing, and every puck is a battle, so it was great. The best word I can use to describe it is just passion. Coach Roy is super passionate. He wants things done the right way so nobody’s cheating the game. Obviously, that comes with a lot of work ethic in competition, so yeah, it was a great skate.

Q- So, it’s obvious that conditioning is a big part of your skating because, with the bag skate, you’re a whole zone ahead of NHL defensemen. What goes into your conditioning?

A- I think I’ve just been blessed with a long stride, and that kind of skating comes pretty naturally to me. Part of my game I want to focus on is the conditioning low in the corners and battling on guys like we did at the beginning of practice there. I think it’s a whole different type of conditioning, trying to stay low and use your lower body to contain guys, especially the smaller guys who can spin off or even the big guys who are really hard to move. So I don’t know if there’s anything specific for the end there or just the long stride that comes naturally to me, and I’m blessed with it. So I try to use that to my advantage, but I definitely want to work on the close containments and the battles down low in terms of conditioning.

Q- You were skating with Isaiah George today. It seems you guys figure to be two of the more trusted defensemen for Bridgeport. George is going to be a rookie. If you guys do end up skating together, how do you see you guys working, and what can you do to teach him?

A- Yeah, I think we’ll definitely build some chemistry. He’s an unbelievable player. He skates really well and sees the ice really well. I think we just have to work on our communication and calls and plays, which will come with time. Like I said, he’s a great player, probably a little more offensive than I am, so we probably complement each other pretty well and I’ll shut it down, and he can have some more freedom in offense. But yeah, it’s exciting for both of us. I think we’re having fun showing what we can do here and go from there.

Q- When we spoke with Coach Rick Kowalsky, he kind of talked about how he sees you as having all the tools, but he says one thing: He wants you to be harder to play against. How do you work on that, especially as you enter your second full year?

A- Yeah, I think there’s a certain switch that has to flip from off the ice to on the ice. On the ice, even in practice, there’s got to be no friends, not take any liberties, and just go out there and compete like you’re playing against whoever it is. And I think it’s mostly a mental thing and just having that commitment and deciding to play that type of game every night. It’s not an easy game to play, but I think it’s super effective and that’s going to be my ticket, just playing with that viciousness. Just not having any opponent want to come to my side of the ice because they know they will be put through the wringer all night. So that’s just something I’ve been trying to work on. With that comes conditioning and being able to be in good enough shape to play that way all the time. Yeah, and it’s just a mental commitment in my eyes.