Seems like an admission of MB that his development team does not have the appetite or abilities to improve the most obvious weakness of a player whose hand-eye skill suggest untapped potential. Or he doesn't view it as part of his job to start the nurturing that early.
I disagree that it's an admission of the development. They were following up on Fonstad like they do every other prospect. But somewhere down the line, maybe they realized that what they were asking him to work on, he wasn't improving on. Same goes for any prospect they choose not to sign.
If it's a question of development, then I guess the other guys they did sign to an ELC is also an admission that their development has the appetite and ability? But because they didn't sign 3 guys out of the CHL, it's that they don't have the appetite and ability, right? That's how it works?
They only have two years to determine if they want to sign a prospect out of the CHL, unlike college and Europe, where they can take more of their time. So CHL prospects need to show more quicker.
Another reason why he wasn't signed is because Montreal signed Ylonen, Romanov, Khisamutdinov, and Hillis to their ELC's, as well as Demchenko (who with McNiven being an RFA and LaCouve's AHL deal expiring, they probably felt they need some more goaltending depth). With that, you have 5 ELC's signed in one off-season.
Then there is the 50-contract limit. Right now, Montreal has 34 contracts for next season. But they have a lot of RFA's to make a decision on, chief among them are Domi, Hudon, Evans, Vejdemo, Juulsen, Mete, Ouellet, and McNiven. And then you have Blandisi, Lucchini, Luchuk, Waked, and Sturtz (most of these guys will be let go. But there is the consideration to be taken). The point is, they need to limit the amount of prospects they sign because they have other players they need to sign.
It is a numbers game for some of the prospects, unfortunately. But it's also a question of them not progressing enough in areas the organization asks them to improve on. So it's also a matter of the prospect not forcing the organization to sign them.
And this is also another advantage of having many picks and deepening the prospect pool the way Montreal has done the last 3 drafts. Because then, they aren't forced to sign certain prospects or having to look elsewhere as much as they have in previous years. They can afford not to sign certain prospects.