The Fourth Line Got a Real Job

How much ice time does a fourth-liner get now?

A regular here is a skater who played at least half of his team’s games. In 1998-99, 12.7% of regular forwards averaged under 10 minutes a game. In 2025-26 it was 3.9%: 16 players in a 32-team league, about one for every two teams.

The line falls in steps. It hovered around 10% to 14% until 2009-10 (12.0% in 1997-98, 13.8% in 2007-08), dipped to 7.1% in 2010-11 before bouncing back to about 9% to 10%, and dropped for good in 2014-15, from 8.8% to 5.0%. Since 2017-18 it has stayed between about 3% and 5%.

The bottom rose, the top stayed put

Take every regular forward each season and line them up by ice time. The median forward has played about 15 minutes in every season since 1997-98. The 90th percentile has barely moved either. The 10th percentile, the fourth line, rose from 9:14 to 11:10.

So the gap between a top-line and a fourth-line forward shrank from the bottom. The 90th-percentile forward played 2.1 times as much as the 10th in 1997-98, and 1.7 times as much in 2025-26.

The new minutes are even-strength minutes

Power plays and penalty kills drive top players’ totals, so we split the bottom quarter of forwards by situation. Their gain is almost all at even strength: 8:18 a game in 1997-98, 10:12 in 2025-26. Their penalty-kill time stayed at about a minute a game or less throughout, and their power-play time under 40 seconds.

Part of this is the power play shrinking (see The power play is disappearing): fewer penalties means more even-strength time for everyone. The median forward gained 1.3 even-strength minutes a game from 1997-98 to 2025-26. The 10th-percentile forward gained 2.1, so depth players got more than their share.

Since 2017-18, the four lines have stayed in their lanes

Our shift data shows how the four forward lines split five-on-five time in each game. In 2017-18 the most-used trio played 11.7 minutes together and the fourth 5.9. In 2025-26 it was 11.2 and 5.9. The fourth trio’s share of all five-on-five trio time has stayed between 12.3% and 12.7% every season.

Show the work

Tests written down

Not in advance (exploratory)

Results computed

October 26, 2026

Every regular skater (half of his team’s games or more) in every NHL regular season from 1997-98 to 2025-26, from the NHL’s time-on-ice tables, split by situation. Line shares use our five-on-five shift data, 2017-18 to 2025-26.

Frequently asked questions

Keep reading

• How Hockey Changed: NHL data stories →One chart-led story a day about how the NHL game, its players and its rules have changed.
• The power play is disappearing →Power plays halved since 2005-06, which freed up five-on-five time.
• The goalie pull keeps creeping earlier →Every pull since 2017-18, every coach ranked.
• How much do linemates matter? →How much of a winger’s scoring comes with his spot in the lineup.
• NHL line combinations today →Who is on which line and power-play unit tonight.

Sources and method

1. NHL stats (NHL.com), every season since 1917-18
2. NHL stats API: skater time on ice by situation, 1997-98 on

Research and analysis, not betting advice. Past results do not guarantee future returns; bet only what you can afford to lose.