I would not say Mukhamadullin thinks the game poorly at all. It's actually a silly criticism. Sure, he has a lot to learn -- we're not talking a polished defender like a Jake Sanderson, here.
When I worry about a player's hockey IQ, it has more to do with the repetition of mistakes than the initial making of them. These are 17 and 18 year old kids, after all. Mukhamadullin was in a tough spot last year as the youngest player on his KHL squad and, as such, the lowest defenseman on the depth chart. If he made a mistake in the first period, he'd often be lucky to see two more shifts the rest of the game. But I did not see a kid who blundered the same way over and over again and cost his team goals and games. I have no idea where that myth came from.
We need to keep in mind the context of the draft when evaluating Shakir Mukhamadullin. The next three defensemen taken were Justin Barron, William Wallinder and Helge Grans. You can make a very good argument that Mukhamadullin has the highest hockey IQ out of these 4 players. Those other three kids all logged tons of ice time for lower level (comparatively to the KHL) teams last year, and they all had several recurring problems in terms of decision making. Due to his usage, Mukhamadullin is still a bit of a mystery but I would have to say it's foolish to condemn his hockey IQ at this point.