I hope he won't have to hit rock bottom to realize he has a problem. I wish him the best of luck in his attempt to sober up. I hope people will leave him alone and that he will be able to find AA groups he will attend without being bothered.
In my opinion, the NHL will be extremely hard toward Shawn Thornton. He'll get 2 games of suspension+ 1 spanking given by Brendan Shanahan+ 1 severe warning ("Don't do this again, Shawn...please".)