What is termination pay?

The Termination Pay benefit provides a guarantee of 100% of a player's "paragraph 5 [base] salary" if he has completed four or more credited seasons. A player must be released after the club's first regular season game to get the benefit, and he must have made the active/inactive list at some point in the season. A player must claim termination pay between the end of the regular season and no later than February 1. If the claim is made before or after those dates it may not be valid.