$$$$ talks. Matthews set the benchmark for using the bonus heavy contract structure for American players minimizing tax burden.
93% of present contract is paid via bonus, would be shocked if new contract wasn’t a similar construct.
Matthews simply cannot make that kind of take home playing for a US market unless they pay him max allowable & even that may not reach the same take home
At the end of the day, if $ were Matthews key requirement, CDN markets were his best option… by looks of it $$ were in fact his key requirement - as is his right BTW