Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner has been subject to constant criticism throughout the summer but one of the NHL’s resident superstars certainly isn’t buying any of it.

Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon has been training with Marner and Sidney Crosby among others throughout the season and was thoroughly impressed by the Maple Leafs’ winger during their sessions.

“It’s a hard league to win in and obviously I think Marner gets a lot of flak in Toronto, but he’s honestly one of the best players in the league,” MacKinnon said to Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin. “I play with some of the best players in the league, and then I skate with (Marner) and he’s right up there with anyone. Especially at that Vail (Colorado) camp, there’s a lot of good players, and he’s stuck out as one of the best for sure.”

MacKinnon is the reigning Hart Trophy winner, capturing the award over Nikita Kucherov and Auston Matthews last season after authoring a 51-goal, 140-point campaign. He has the Cup-winning pedigree that Marner and his teammates have been sorely lacking and excoriated for in one of the world’s largest hockey markets. And while these comments won’t disavow Marner’s skeptics entirely, it’s promising that he’s shone against some of the NHL’s best players this summer.

“Yeah, he looks awesome,” MacKinnon said. “He’s always so impressive out there. Even just playing with him [at the 2017 Worlds], he just came off his rookie year. Unreal, just so good, so talented.”

Marner didn’t produce offensively during the Maple Leafs’ first round series against the Boston Bruins, posting a goal and three points, while Matthews and William Nylander battled through an unspecified illness and migraines, respectively. He was the primary defender against Bruins superstar forward David Pastrnak, but was well out of the frame when Boston’s star winger scored the series-clinching goal in overtime, after a routine dump-in caromed off the boards and right in front of the net.

Ahead of the upcoming season, Marner reportedly isn’t worried about his impending contract and it seems like it was the best interest of the player and the team that he got some work in against some of the faces of the league. Marner will be one of the primary focuses of Maple Leafs’ training camp, but evidently he’s still in top form as an all-world playmaker which certainly bodes well in a pressure-cooker year, even relative to Toronto’s standards.