The National Hockey League's Northwest Division was formed in 1998 as part of the Western Conference due to expansion.
The teams in the Pacific Division were split up, with the Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, Edmonton Oilers, and the Vancouver Canucks becoming the newly formed Northwest Division.
The Minnesota Wild joined the division in 2000 as an expansion team.
During that time, it had the greatest distances between teams in the entire NHL.
The division's Canadian teams (the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, and Vancouver Canucks) returned to the Pacific Division, while the division's American teams (the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild) joined the Central Division.