It's a thrill for Mathew Barzal to be walking amongst the NHL's best players at the San Jose Civic Center on Thursday night. Barzal remembered watching the All-Star Game as a kid and there's a lot of familiar faces - like Sidney Crosby and Patrick Kane - still roaming around the event.
Now, Barzal is one of their peers, as the Islanders center gets set to participate in his first All-Star Weekend, taking place on Friday and Saturday in San Jose.

"It's obviously exciting for me and my family," Barzal said. "It's cool for me to be here around players I grew up here watching. It's a cool experience, I'm just trying to soak it all in. It's special being here with the best players in the world."
Barzal has proven that he's worthy of being among them. He leads the Islanders with 45 points (14G, 31A), has a Calder Trophy on his resume and his dynamic skating and playmaking abilities are tailor-made for the skills competition Friday (9 p.m. et, NBCSN) and in the three-on-three game Saturday (8 p.m. et, NBC).

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This year's All-Star Game is taking place at the Shark Tank and these are technically uncharted waters for Barzal, so Head Coach Barry Trotz gave him some instructions for his first All-Star experience. The first was to have fun, enjoy the festivities and the moment. The second was to take note of what was around him, to see how the best of the best conducted themselves.
"Take note of the top, top players, the absolute top players, ow they interact with not only the fans, but other players and how prepared they are," Trotz said. "That's part of his learning process. Mathew has come a long way for me, he wants to be the best and that's what I really like about Mathew, is he wants to be the best."
One of those guys will surely be Kane, another one of Barzal's idols whom he's modelled his game after. Barzal said he finds an extra gear in his game when he goes up against a player like Kane and is excited to pick his brain.
"We played Chicago twice this year and I think those might have been my two best games of the year," Barzal said. "I think it has a lot to playing against a guy like that. He always brings the best out of any player. He's out there making plays every shift and you want to be like him too."

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"Any time you can be around the best in the world you want to pick anything you can up from them," Barzal added. "Obviously just off the ice, just them being professionals, as a young guy trying to see, you want to pick up some tricks for those guys cause they've done it for so many years."
In perhaps a pinch-me moment for Barzal, Kane went on about the similarities he saw between them.
"He's probably a better skater than I am," Kane said. "He's an unbelievable skater, unbelievable on his edges. Just playing against him a couple times this year, it's pretty impressive how he can create time and space just from his footwork and obviously he has the hands to go with it. He seems like a really good kid, I've met him briefly maybe a couple of times on the ice a little bit, but very impressed with his game especially given how young he is."
Barzal is in San Jose with his mom and dad and is sharing the event with his family, though unlike NHL Awards, Anthony Beauvillier did not make the trip. It'll be a busy weekend for Barzal, with all the hoopla that comes with All-Star Weekend, the fan fests, red carpets, interviews and Instagram stations. It's a good kind of busy though and the 21-year-old center is looking forward to it and representing the Islanders.
"We have a lot of guys on our team who could be there right now,"Barzal said. "So much talent on our team. To get the nod this year was pretty exciting it's always an honor when you can represent your team in a league-wide event."