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People are Pissed Because the Carolina Hurricanes Owner Engraved Family Names Above Player Names on the Stanley Cup
By Matt Schultz
Published:
Fresh off their Stanley Cup win, the Carolina Hurricanes tweeted a photo on Thursday of the Cup bearing the freshly engraved name of the team, but not everyone was happy about how the trophy came out. Some people online noticed that team owner Tom Dundon put the names of his wife and five kids on the trophy — above the names of the players and other team personnel — and were pretty disgusted:
Some folks have pointed out that Tom Dundon isn’t the first team owner to have their family’s names etched into the trophy, but it seems like that last tweet nailed what most people are annoyed about: The one kid is just seven years old. People were quick to point out that those other team owners’ kids were adults who at least held symbolic positions in the organization:
Non-story just meant to embarrass the Canes. Florida did the same the last few years and nobody cared pic.twitter.com/lEi691aV1e
— Zach Daw (@SoDawsome) July 9, 2026
They all work for/ own the team pic.twitter.com/WtclTYhYXs
— Alex (@phnmnl1_bitw) July 9, 2026
Reading through everyone’s outrage online, I realize that my opinion on the matter may be unpopular, but I gotta shoot you straight here: this stuff doesn’t bother me. I’m actually surprised this bothers anyone in the world. Tom Dundon is worth $2.3 billion — of course he’s gonna do some shit like this. I’m not saying I think it’s cool, but it is what it is. To think that a billionaire owner isn’t gonna try to slap their family’s names on the Cup is very naïve. In fact, I’m pleasantly surprised Dundon stopped at just six extra names. I bet it took real restraint for him not to squeeze on a bunch more. Ten to fourteen golf buddies. His dogs’ names, living and dead. A quote from his favorite movie (“‘Not at the table, Carlos'”… -from The Hangover 1 -Tom Dundon”)
I’m surprised he didn’t demand that his name be the biggest on the trophy. Surprised he didn’t insist his name have a special font, a very interesting and cool font, one that no one else has access to, one that you won’t find in the dropdown on Microsoft Word, a font with its own made-up name just for him. Dundon Bold. Tom Sans. Gothic Tommy. Surprised he’s even letting anyone else hold, look at, or take pictures of the trophy. Doesn’t it seem like a guy this rich would take it from the Cup handlers during its presentation, immediately jog it to his Cybertruck, buckle it into his backseat, then drive it straight to his home office where no one ever got to look at it again? I’m picturing that time Martin Shkreli bought that one-of-one Wu-Tang album and just let it sit in his desk. It’s kind of lucky no billionaire owner has done that with a pro championship trophy — yet. I’m sure it’ll happen eventually.
But ultimately, whattaya gonna do? To let it bother you seems like a waste of time. The players on the Hurricanes know that they won the Cup. The team personnel know they did a hell of a lot more than Dundon’s first-grader son. My guess is no one actually involved with the team is taking Dundon’s rich-guy behavior too personally. He’s a weird guy. His favorite quote is from The Hangover. This is canon now. Case closed. Let’s all keep it moving.
Kinkead: it’s annoying that the names aren’t separated by commas
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…) email: M.Schultz@sportradar.com