Hurricanes Owner Roasted Over Who He Put on the Stanley Cup

Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon is facing backlash after having his wife and all five of his children — including a seven-year-old — engraved on the Stanley Cup, with none of them holding an official role with the organization. The debate is whether family should be allowed on the Cup and, if so, where to draw the line. After all, this is a trophy that players and staff worked extremely hard to win, while the owner’s family wasn’t involved in any significant capacity.

Forever etched in history pic.twitter.com/KpJaNsb5Fz

— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) July 9, 2026

What has really sparked a reaction online is that the Dundon family’s names appear on the Cup before the players’ names. Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston weighed in bluntly, saying his first reaction was that the placement was embarrassing. Jeff Marek also chimed in and offered a solution: “Compromise – if the Carolina Hurricanes owner wants to do this, how about just engraving ‘The Dundon Family’ instead of each name?”

Some have asked if the NHL should step in. Interestingly, the NHL is aware. Ken Campbell writes, “Make no mistake: The Carolina Hurricanes did this with the approval of the NHL. The hockey operations department, led by Colin Campbell, had to sign off on every name that appeared on the Cup. That’s what makes all of this so much worse.”

Others have said this isn’t a big deal, arguing that the owner should be able to do what he wants.

It’s a fair question that the league should try to answer. Who belongs on hockey’s most storied trophy? Critics argue the Cup should be reserved for those who contributed directly to the on-ice product — players, coaches, scouts, and support staff such as equipment trainers. Beyond the financial risk an owner takes, their families rarely serve an operational role. If they do, go ahead and include them.

Dundon isn’t the first owner to add family members; the Florida Panthers’ Vinnie Viola did the same after Florida’s championship run. What seems to be less of an issue is that there were fewer names and those were listed, and they worked with the team. There’s also a big difference between a couple of names and the first two rows of all the names engraved being family members. It’s a bad look, no matter how you slice it.

Perhaps there needs to be a set of clearer guidelines for Stanley Cup engravings. It’s been largely left to team discretion and that might need to change. For now, the league hasn’t indicated any plans to intervene. Even if the NHL looks back and deems it was an error in judgment, they clearly won’t. Is the NHL really going to x out the first two rows of names?

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