Agreed re: Boulton - there was nothing but intent to injure and although I can't stand Parekh at all, mostly because of the spitting incident that got brushed aside so he couldmplay in the top prospects game, he's incredibly lucky that the stick broke. If that stick stayed in one piece he's likely dealing with broken ribs.
I tried to look it up and I think you may be right (RIP CapFriendly), there was a 9 year old thread that mentioned there was some kind of amount they could be paid but it was capped around 10.5k.
I do however think they get any bonuses regardless since they're paid out on July 1. Then the salary gets pushed back until he's actually using up the contract years? But that opens up a whole other batch of questions because if say Philly kept Luchanko up for 11+ games to use a contract year, then send him down, where does that salary go? I can't imagine the PA would allow teams to get out of paying salary like that.