Tom Dundon, owner of the Carolina Hurricanes and Portland Trailblazers has built himself quite the reputation for being cheap, and unorthodox when it comes to how he run his teams — but his latest move is beyond the pale. On Wednesday he Hurricanes showed off photos of Lord Stanley’s Cup, freshly engraved with the names of the team, and immediately people noticed that Dundon had ensured his entire family got top billing on the cup.
It would be one thing to just have the billionaire owner of the organization on the cup, but Dundon had the names of his wife and all five children etched on the cup as well, as if they had anything to do with Carolina’s cup run. Not only that, but key support staff were left off the cup, which made it feel as if people who gave their all to help make the 2025-26 season a success were bumped so five kids got their names immortalized simply for being the children of an owner.
There are some very weird decisions behind the non-players who did, and didn’t make the cup. The entire training staff did get their names engraved, except for team nutritionist Kristin Pirigyi. None of the team physicians were put on the cup. None of the scouts who helped build the team were mentioned. The announce team was left off the cup, as well as the communications department.
Sure, one could say that those roles are cutting a little deep when it comes to whose names belong, but not when a literal seven-year-old child got his name up top. Gross.
