Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon is facing backlash for engraving the names of his wife and children on the Stanley Cup as hockey fans blasted the decision as “disrespectful and shameful.”
Dundon’s name, along with his wife, Verushka, and their five children – Caden, Dax, Drew, Blake and Tagan – takes up the first two lines of the newly engraved section of the famed Cup underneath the banner “Carolina Hurricanes 2025-2026.”
“Forever etched in history,” the Hurricanes posted on X, alongside a photo of the trophy.
Forever etched in history pic.twitter.com/KpJaNsb5Fz
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) July 9, 2026
Despite the subtle move, some took issue with Dundon’s position on adding his family to the iconic trophy.
“Tom Dundon putting his whole family on the Cup instead of players & staff who actually did things to win the Stanley Cup is one the most selfish & gross things I’ve ever seen. It’s so disrespectful and shameful,” one critic wrote on X.
“Dumb Tom Dundon wasted so much space on the Stanley Cup by adding his useless children to it. Children who contributed nothing to the success of that team. What a self serving prick. Shameful,” another said.
“Absolute trashy behavior,” a third wrote.
The Hockey Hall of Fame said it is not directly involved with the engraving, just the care of the Cup.
However, despite the backlash, Dundon is not the first team owner to include family members on hockey’s hallowed silver chalice.
In fact, it has become commonplace in recent years.
Penny Vinik, the then-wife of Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeffrey Vinik was on it in 2021, according to the Associated Press (AP). She did not make the cut in 2020 when the couple was going through divorce proceedings before reconciling and then finalizing a split years later.
Vincent Viola’s wife, Teresa, and the couple’s three children, John, Michael and Travis, are all on it twice from the Florida Panthers’ back-to-back championships in 2024 and ’25, according to the AP.
In 1984, then-Edmonton Oilers owner Peter Pocklington had the name of his father, Basil Pocklington, added to The Cup when the team won in 1984, later claiming it was a clerical error, according to the New York Post.
Former Chicago Blackhawks video coordinator Brad Aldrich, whose name was added after the team won the Stanley Cup Finals in 2010, had his name covered by Xs after being accused of sexually assaulting former player Kyle Beach during the playoff run, according to The Post.
Dundon, whose net worth is $2.3 billion, according to Forbes, purchased a majority stake of the team for $420 million before buying out the rest of the minority shareholders for full ownership of the organization in 2021.
In March, Dundon sold 12.5% of the Hurricanes stake to a group of investors at a $2.66 billion valuation.
The Hurricanes declined comment through a team spokesperson as the time of publication.