Nothing was in their power; it was all up to JT. They made it known they were interested, he offered them a meeting. They went to the meeting and said "here's our offer" just like the other 5 teams he met with. At the end of the day, Tavares chose to play for his hometown team. The money was going to be there no matter which team he chose but only one was the team he cheered for as a kid. Again, you can thank all the Leaf cheerleaders on HNIT and TSN for that as much as the Leafs themselves. They're the ones who brainwashed a 7 year old Tavares into believing that the Leafs were the end-all, be-all of hockey teams even though, when Tavares was a kid, the Leafs were so bad they shouldn't have even been shown on TV to begin with.
Back in 2007-8 when JT was 7 years old and sleeping on those Leafs bedsheets while wearing his Leafs pajamas, his favourite team finished dead last in their division and 11 points out of a playoff spot. But the networks still rammed them down the nation's collective throat two and three times a week, just like always.