The National Hockey League's Norris Division was formed in 1974 as part of the Prince of Wales Conference. When the NHL realigned into geographic divisions in 1981, the division moved to the Clarence Campbell Conference, where it comprised the league's Great Lakes and Midwest teams, with the Detroit Red Wings being the only member to remain from the previous season. The division existed for 19 seasons until 1993. The division was named in honour of James E. Norris, longtime owner of the Red Wings. It is the forerunner of the NHL's Central Division. Intense rivalries developed between its constituent teams, which through the 1980s were noted for enforcer-heavy squads that had poor performances – qualifying for the playoffs with .500 points percentages, and achieving no Stanley Cup titles or appearances in the finals – but great local popularity.^[1][2][3] Despite the division's reputation, the 1985–86 St. Louis Blues made an impressive cinderella run by reaching the Conference Finals where it took the Calgary Flames 7 games to dispatch them following The Monday Night Miracle, and the 1990–91 Minnesota North Stars reached the Stanley Cup finals.

As part of his shtick, ESPN's Chris Berman often refers to the National Football League's NFC North division (previously the NFC Central division) as the Norris Division or "NFC Norris" since the two divisions included teams from three of the same cities: Chicago, Detroit, and Minneapolis–St. Paul. The Tampa Bay Area was also briefly represented in both divisions simultaneously, during the 1992–93 NHL season.

Division lineups

Regular season Division champions

• 1975 – Montreal Canadiens (47–14–19, 113 pts)
• 1976 – Montreal Canadiens (58–11–11, 127 pts)
• 1977 – Montreal Canadiens (60–8–12, 132 pts)
• 1978 – Montreal Canadiens (59–10–11, 129 pts)
• 1979 – Montreal Canadiens (52–17–11, 115 pts)
• 1980 – Montreal Canadiens (47–20–13, 107 pts)
• 1981 – Montreal Canadiens (45–22–13, 103 pts)
• 1982 – Minnesota North Stars (37–23–20, 94 pts)
• 1983 – Chicago Black Hawks (47–23–10, 104 pts)
• 1984 – Minnesota North Stars (39–31–10, 88 pts)
• 1985 – St. Louis Blues (37–31–12, 86 pts)
• 1986 – Chicago Black Hawks (39–33–8, 86 pts)
• 1987 – St. Louis Blues (32–33–15, 79 pts)
• 1988 – Detroit Red Wings (41–28–11, 93 pts)
• 1989 – Detroit Red Wings (34–34–12, 80 pts)
• 1990 – Chicago Blackhawks (41–33–6, 88 pts)
• 1991 – Chicago Blackhawks (49–23–8, 106 pts)
• 1992 – Detroit Red Wings (43–25–12, 98 pts)
• 1993 – Chicago Blackhawks (47–25–12, 106 pts)

Playoff Division champions

• 1982 – Chicago Black Hawks
• 1983 – Chicago Black Hawks
• 1984 – Minnesota North Stars
• 1985 – Chicago Black Hawks
• 1986 – St. Louis Blues
• 1987 – Detroit Red Wings
• 1988 – Detroit Red Wings
• 1989 – Chicago Blackhawks
• 1990 – Chicago Blackhawks
• 1991 – Minnesota North Stars
• 1992 – Chicago Blackhawks
• 1993 – Toronto Maple Leafs

Stanley Cup winners produced

• 1976 – Montreal Canadiens
• 1977 – Montreal Canadiens
• 1978 – Montreal Canadiens
• 1979 – Montreal Canadiens

Presidents' Trophy winners produced

• 1991 – Chicago Blackhawks

Norris Division titles won by team

References

• NHL History