I think that's especially true of rookies. It's the 2nd deal and the free agent deals that get interesting.
For example, Regula's AHL salary is $215k. That makes me think they're ok sending him to the minors. $215k is 'well paid' for the minors but not budget busting. On the other hand, Patrick Brown gets $800k to play down there. He makes as much as 10 Merkulov/Lysell/Lohrei's. So I would think they hate burying that contract.
Yep. Like I said its just a rule of thumb. Another factor to go along with those exceptions is the higher AHL salary can be a deterrent on getting claimed off of waivers.