Surely NASA doesn't hype anything :-)
OK, forget the propulsion aspects for a minute. Could M2P2 still provide sufficient magnetic shielding? Since it's not being used for propulsion, mostly likely the power and fuel requirements would be much, much lower since it's not being used to move any mass, merely redirect radiation and therefore onboard circuitry won't be "fried" like you say. M2P2 is preferable to the heavy shielding needed in a deep-space manned mission scenario which really increases departure mass and fuel requirements.