diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40e/i40e_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40e/i40e_main.c
index 0e6abc2ec16d..9c0a381cf420 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40e/i40e_main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40e/i40e_main.c
@@ -6016,6 +6016,9 @@ static void i40e_link_event(struct i40e_pf *pf)
 	i40e_status status;
 	bool new_link, old_link;
 
+	/* save off old link status information */
+	pf->hw.phy.link_info_old = pf->hw.phy.link_info;
+
 	/* set this to force the get_link_status call to refresh state */
 	pf->hw.phy.get_link_info = true;
 
@@ -6150,13 +6153,9 @@ unlock:
 static void i40e_handle_link_event(struct i40e_pf *pf,
 				   struct i40e_arq_event_info *e)
 {
-	struct i40e_hw *hw = &pf->hw;
 	struct i40e_aqc_get_link_status *status =
 		(struct i40e_aqc_get_link_status *)&e->desc.params.raw;
 
-	/* save off old link status information */
-	hw->phy.link_info_old = hw->phy.link_info;
-
 	/* Do a new status request to re-enable LSE reporting
 	 * and load new status information into the hw struct
 	 * This completely ignores any state information