A week after his violent attack on Brooks Orpik on Dec. 7, the NHL hit Boston Bruins forward Shawn Thornton with a 15-game suspension. But even with five of Thornton’s 15 games already on the books, the saga doesn’t appear to be over just yet with the word that Thornton will move forward with an official appeal of a ban that’d cost him over $80,000 of pay.

By now, you’ve heard everything about the ugly incident in Boston.

Thornton mugged Orpik in direct response to the Pittsburgh defensemen’s refusal to fight following his hit on the Bruins’ Loui Eriksson. It was a gross violation of ‘the Code’ that Thornton’s been a longtime and outspoken follower of, and put the Black-and-Gold in yet another hot water situation throughout the league. The Bruins, while loved in Boston for their rough-and-tough style, are a club that’s always towed the thin line between tough to play against and downright dirty.

Thornton crossed that line. And nobody’s denying that.

But that doesn’t mean he can’t appeal the suspension. He’d be stupid not to, in fact.

Especially when you break it down to its bare nuts and bolts and realize that Thornton’s simply exercising a right that he has through the league and NHLPA.

Unlike a James Neal or Dion Phaneuf -- recently suspended players that respectively make $5 million (Neal) and $6.5 million (Phaneuf) a year -- this suspension hits Thornton in the wallet with the force of a punch similar to that of the one he labeled Orpik with.In an 82-game season, Neal makes $60,975 per game. Phaneuf nearly $80,000. Thornton? Just over $13,000 per night. Meaning that, if the suspension is upheld at 15 games, Thornton will forfeit a total of nearly $85,000 in salary. That’s roughly eight percent of his 2013-14 salary ($1.1 million).

That’s the equivalent of a person making $50,000 a year losing $4,000.

Now, it’s (always) tough to compare professional athletes to ‘real life’ people -- especially when Thornton’s punishment for punching somebody he didn’t like in the face is missing work and losing money whereas most of us would’ve been canned -- but this isn’t the first time in the past year where the veteran enforcer’s lost his fair share of money. During the lockout, Thornton, along with the rest of his NHL brethren, lost 34 games of pay. For Thornton, that’s almost half a million dollars.

And when you’re a 36-year-old enforcer in the final year of your contract and skating in a role that’s slowly being phased out of the everyday NHL roster, that’s a lot of money out the window.

Nobody really knows Thornton’s future in the league after this season, and there’s a possibility that the pro of 11 NHL seasons isn’t answering his phone unless Boston’s calling. He’s become a full time resident of this city, and it’s clear that his heart is with the Bruins. And with the potential label of being a ‘repeat offender’ if he crosses a line of any sort again, he comes with red flags for suitors.

It’s a tough pill for Thornton (and the B’s) to swallow, making an appeal all that more, well, appealing.

In addition to the impact on both Thornton’s wallet and reputation, the appeal comes with the fact that this is the first time that Thornton, a man with 873 penalty minutes in 522 games at the NHL level, has landed in the league’s office for disciplinary reasons of any sort.

Unlike the Sabres’ Patrick Kaleta -- whose appeal of a 10-game suspension earlier this season was denied by NHL head Gary Bettman given his track record and status as a repeat offender -- Thornton boasts a clean history. So, to go from zero to 15? That’s rough.

Of course, that’s not to suggest that he shouldn’t be suspended in the double digits for his heinous assault on Orpik, but if Thornton and the Bruins feel that they’re owed an explanation or answers for the lengthy ban, then this is the way to get them. And at the end of the day, isn’t that what this whole thing is about? As hockey fans, and even as players for that matter, the need for a system that makes sense is at an all time high, and it seems like Thornton and the Bruins are set on getting one.

And you thought the wheel has stopped spinning once Colin Campbell left…

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