Only 4 years? Matthews is a sack. No other superstar pulls this shit.
This is going to be the way of the future whether you like it or not.
And I don't know what there is to be mad about. He's now under contract with his team for the next 5 seasons at a price the team was willing to pay. At the end of it, he can sign a very large and 8-year deal in a more favorable cap environment, and that one will take him close to retirement age.
If he suffers a career-altering injury before that happens? Well, then he's left $50m or so on the table at this price point. But if he signs 8 years now, he's probably also leaving $30m+ on the table at the tail end of his career. There's risk built in on both sides of it for the player.
So, you can rabble around all you want about how dudes should take a paycut and stay with your team forever, but we're talking about 8-figure decisions here. The expectation that they sacrifice tens or hundreds of millions in their own financial flexibility to give their bosses more flexibility and time to figure out how to build a contender is just...unrealistic. Like, are you gonna turn down a 50% raise and the ability to seek other employment in the future so your company can buy you a better computer and get you an intern? It might make your life easier, but at the end of the day it isn't feeding your family (or at the scale we're talking about: generations of your family to come).
And these are the types of decisions dudes will be making much more frequently in the future. This is pro sports now. It's a f***-you-pay-me world and Matthews is not the first person to embrace that, and in hockey he will not be the last.