You might want to learn more about it before you make a few more inaccurate claims. You must not be that old. I had the same questions about it more than half a decade ago and then seeing results over time and learning about it more. It is a very useful tool to use and much more accurate if you understand and aren't fixated on certain things.
I believe it was Bader that went through a decade of drafts that were 5 to 15 years past and his rate of NHL success of first rounds was 70 something percent and the NHL's was 56%. The models have improved since then.
As Nick even showed how he changed and eleborated on Patrick Bacon's and Chatel's models. McCallum also had a recent updated model.
funny you should relate it to experience with these models because my initial reaction was "not this shit again". those models have been around for too long without getting any better.
i just think they are, by and large, too crude, given to bold unsustained assertions and generally puffed up to generate clicks of the sort this one generated. the notion that kudryatsev is productive enough to track as a conventional nhl dman is really all you can take from that infographic. the rest is to me unhelpful if not misleading. the odds and possibilities to me might as well be pulled out of someone's ass.
for example, look at the "odds progression" chart that supposedly tracks his odds of making the nhl. we are to believe he has only increased those odds by 2% since he was 16. in other words, this model implies the development of this player has been static if not stunted.
in reality, kudryatsev is a seventh rounder playing in the ahl at 20 taking a regular shift in most situations as a rookie after coming off a solid season in the chl. he's pushed a number of older ahl dmen down the depth chart. his development is miles ahead of your average 7th rounder. it's respectable for a second rounder.
post draft development is, by far, the best indicator of eventual nhl success, especially, for obvious reasons, in later round picks. i would say a player showing this kind of development is more likely to succeed than a respectable second rounder he is currently caught up to.
so a suggestion for your friend would be to track relative development better and in more interesting and sophisticated ways, and to relate that better to success.
kudryatsev is also blessed with the physical size and tools to play the game as an nhl regular without compensating. in particular he has shown a strong 2 way defender hockey iq that has allowed him to learn and step into a significant ahl role very quickly. he also does not have to compensate for a deficiency in size, style of play or glaring mobility issues.
these are basic indicators of eventual nhl success that ought to be used to filter odds in any model if possible. the fact these kinds of models do not consider them is a weakness that causes them to confuse a kudryatsev with a jordan subban. while not all data is available to track those indicators, it's not difficult to use a size filter to handicap and adjust nhl normative results and to adjust and weight prospect comparisons (no pun intended).
all of which to say is that these models can and should do better.