The NHL'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 Clarence may refer to: Places Australia * Clarence County, New South Wales, a Cadastral division * Clarence, New South Wales, a place near Lithgow * Clarence River (New South Wales) * Clarence Strait (Northern Territory) * City of Clarence, a loca ...

, where it comprised the league's

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

and

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

teams, with the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference, and are ...

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 The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

titles or appearances in the finals – but great local popularity.The Norris Division Has Gone Respectable
The Hockey News 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 The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference, and are the third major professional ice hockey te ...

7 games to dispatch them following The Monday Night Miracle, and the 1990–91 Minnesota North Stars reached the

finals. As part of his shtick,

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's Chris Berman often refers to the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

'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 (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

, and Minneapolis–St. Paul. The Tampa Bay Area was also briefly represented in both divisions simultaneously, during the

1992–93 NHL season The 1992–93 NHL season was the 76th regular season of the National Hockey League. Each player wore a patch on their jersey throughout the season to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Stanley Cup. The league expanded to 24 teams with the a ...

. Fans also referred to it as the "

Chuck Norris Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris (born March 10, 1940) is an American martial artist and actor. He is a black belt in Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu jitsu and judo. After serving in the United States Air Force, Norris won many martial arts championshi ...

Division" due to its often violent reputation and play-style.

Division lineups

1974–1979

* Los Angeles Kings *

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, a ...

Changes from the 1973–74 season

* The Norris Division is formed as a result of NHL realignment * The Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens come from the East Division * The Los Angeles Kings and Pittsburgh Penguins come from the

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

Division * The Washington Capitals are added as an expansion team

1979–1981

* Detroit Red Wings * Hartford Whalers * Los Angeles Kings * Montreal Canadiens * Pittsburgh Penguins

Changes from the 1978–79 season

* The Hartford Whalers are granted entry into the NHL from the

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association (french: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

(WHA) * The Washington Capitals move to the Patrick Division

1981–1982

Chicago Black Hawks (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

* Detroit Red Wings * Minnesota North Stars * St. Louis Blues *

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, p ...

Changes from the 1980–81 season

* The Norris Division switches from the Prince of Wales Conference to the Clarence Campbell Conference * The Hartford Whalers and Montreal Canadiens move to the Adams Division * The Pittsburgh Penguins move to the Patrick Division * The Los Angeles Kings move to the Smythe Division * The Minnesota North Stars and Toronto Maple Leafs come from the Adams Division * The Chicago Black Hawks, St. Louis Blues, and Winnipeg Jets come from the Smythe Division

1982–1986

* Chicago Black Hawks * Detroit Red Wings * Minnesota North Stars * St. Louis Blues * Toronto Maple Leafs

Changes from the 1981–82 season

* The Winnipeg Jets move back to the Smythe Division

1986–1992

* Chicago Blackhawks * Detroit Red Wings * Minnesota North Stars * St. Louis Blues * Toronto Maple Leafs

Changes from the 1985–86 season

* Chicago changes their team name from the Black Hawks to the Blackhawks

1992–1993

* Chicago Blackhawks * Detroit Red Wings * Minnesota North Stars * St. Louis Blues *

Tampa Bay Lightning The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. They play ...

* Toronto Maple Leafs

Changes from the 1991–92 season

* The Tampa Bay Lightning are added as an expansion team

After the 1992–93 season

The league was reformatted into two conferences with two divisions each: * Eastern Conference ** Atlantic Division ** Northeast Division * Western Conference ** Central Division ** Pacific Division

Regular season Division champions

* 1975 –

(47–14–19, 113 pts) * 1976 –

(58–11–11, 127 pts) * 1977 –

(60–8–12, 132 pts) * 1978 –

(59–10–11, 129 pts) * 1979 –

(52–17–11, 115 pts) * 1980 –

(47–20–13, 107 pts) * 1981 –

(45–22–13, 103 pts) * 1982 – Minnesota North Stars (37–23–20, 94 pts) * 1983 –

(47–23–10, 104 pts) * 1984 – Minnesota North Stars (39–31–10, 88 pts) * 1985 – St. Louis Blues (37–31–12, 86 pts) * 1986 –

(39–33–8, 86 pts) * 1987 – St. Louis Blues (32–33–15, 79 pts) * 1988 –

(41–28–11, 93 pts) * 1989 –

(34–34–12, 80 pts) * 1990 –

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Divisio ...

(41–33–6, 88 pts) * 1991 –

(49–23–8, 106 pts) * 1992 –

(43–25–12, 98 pts) * 1993 –

(47–25–12, 106 pts)

Season results

Playoff Division champions

* 1982 –

* 1983 –

* 1984 – Minnesota North Stars * 1985 –

* 1986 – St. Louis Blues * 1987 –

* 1988 –

* 1989 –

* 1990 –

* 1991 – Minnesota North Stars * 1992 –

* 1993 –

Stanley Cup winners produced

* 1976 –

* 1977 –

* 1978 –

* 1979 –

Presidents' Trophy winners produced

* 1991 –

Norris Division titles won by team

References

NHL History
{{NHL National Hockey League divisions