Again, in 1988-89 he had 39 points in the PP and 18 at ES, and was outscored at ES by Garth Butcher. Similar story the following year. He was obviously an excellent player, but the majority of his impact was limited to the PP.
When you look at ES/SH TOI on those teams, Lidster was getting the most minutes and Butcher the 2nd most.
When he came here, I think there was an effect of 'wow, this is what it's like to actually have an elite PP QB!' which has somehow over time turned into 'Reinhart was the best Canuck defender we've ever had.'
Butcher also played more 14 more games that year, and the following year Reinhart splits were definitely better with 25 EV points and 31 on the PP. In 67 games, 25 EV points is pretty solid. That would be a 30 EV points pace. That same year, after Coffey's 54 EV points, the next highest was Iafrate with 42. MacInnis had 35 in 78 games, Bourque had 36 in 76 games. Most elite guys were in the mid-30s, and Reinhart was on a team that was 2nd to last in points and goals. He might not have been an elite scorer, but I wouldn't say he couldn't be a very good puck mover at even strength.
I've always thought points are overrated when it comes to judging the offensive impact of defensemen anyway, as the ability to bring the puck up the ice in transition is the most important part, and that doesn't always lead to points once the puck is in the zone. A lot of defensemen like Butcher will pick up points by supporting the offense, but don't create much on their own. When Edler and Ehrhoff were together, they scored similarly at even strength, but I think it was clear that Ehrhoff was the one who created more offense. Reinhart sounds a lot like someone like Keith Yandle, who is similarly a great PP quarterback, and led some poor Arizona teams in scoring without a lot of EV points.