On September 2, former Washington Capitals defenseman Nate Schmidt was suspended for the first 20 games of the 2018-19 NHL season for violating the performance-enhancing substances policy.

While several details surrounding the specifics of Schmidt’s violation are still unknown, he released a statement following the suspension, suggesting that the substance found was consistent with environmental contamination. Schmidt, ultimately, lost his appeal.

On Friday, at the NHL’s media day in Chicago, both TJ Oshie and Evgeny Kuznetsov commented on Schmidt’s suspension.

“I think he’s being very honest that this was out of his hands,” Oshie said to AP News’ Stephen Whyno. “Knowing Schmidtty and the type of person he is, I can only think that he got the worst run of bad luck you could ever imagine. That’s the nightmare of trying to be healthy and take supplements is something gets tainted in a warehouse that no one would ever have any idea how it happened.”

The news of Schmidt’s suspension, who has a reputation as a gr88 guy in D.C., came as a surprise to Oshie, but Kuznetsov was a little more pragmatic about the situation.

“We all know he’s nice guy, but at the same time sometimes you have to deal with the bad days in your life,” Kuznetsov said. “You don’t want to be in that situation, but some players in different situations have their bad days, right? … Twenty games are not too much. I think they have a good team.”

Headline photo: Ethan Miller