cuz of the pure amount of cash. Salary + endorsement and all. MTL will offer him the most of all teams. Also, he will be the man. It will be his team. He will be their savior. Could mean too much pressure, but im sure hes gonna love it there. And ofc u add the other, relatively less important but still important, aspects. Price + Weber will lobby to him. Hes great friends to both. And Bergevin is close friends to his agent. A perfect way to enter friendly negotiations.
Quebec has the highest taxes in North America. And I can't imagine Tavares is gonna get Crosby level endorsements when he's playing on the same team as Drouin, Price, and Weber who will the next captain. That plus multiple Maple Leafs hogging up the Canadian endorsement market.
It won't be his team either. Weber will be the captain, Price will be the face of the franchise, Drouin will be the French Canadian darling, and Zadina/Svechnikov will be the young guy everyone is watching for. He will have to share the limelight.
If he wanted to cash out and be a beloved savior, he'd stay in New York.
As for Price+Weber lobbying him, I'm sure he'd like to stay with his friends on the Islanders too.
And I feel like his agent knowing Bergevin is a bad thing. That means he knows more than anyone what an ass clown the guy is and how his client is gonna get low balled, under-appreciated, and generally screwed over by his new GM. If he values keeping Tavares as a client, he'll advise against him going up to play for Bergevin.