Building a quality hockey team from top to bottom requires the right combination of intuition, luck and timing. Typically, the fourth line is composed of spare parts or overachieving AHLers. If a team has the luxury of a defensive specialist, they will typically get stuck here to serve as part of a checking line.
The fourth line is tasked with eating defensive zone starts, winning key faceoffs at certain points of the game and occasionally adding onto the score sheet. The best teams in the NHL feature a fourth line that can play well against other team’s top six.