Stanley Cup Engraving Has a Dundon Family Tree. Fans Are Calling It Out.

The Stanley Cup is meant to be a permanent record of who earned a championship. But the latest engraving for the Carolina Hurricanes has some names on there that didn’t exactly log any playoff minutes.

Team owner Tom Dundon, his wife Veruschka, and all five of their kids got their names carved into hockey’s holy grail before any of the actual players. That’s the first two lines of the Hurricanes’ engraving. Then it lists 22 team staff members. Only after that do you get to the 24 players who skated, hit, and bled for the Cup.

So basically, the Dundon family — including children who reportedly live in Dallas — got their names on the trophy ahead of the guys who actually won it. And people noticed.

An NHL insider isn’t holding back

Chris Johnston, a well-connected NHL reporter, saw the engraving photo posted by the Keeper of the Cup and had a blunt reaction. He called it “embarrassing.” Then he went further.

“Let me be crystal clear here: If you didn’t give every last piece of your being to earn this thing, you don’t deserve to have your name engraved,” Johnston wrote on X. “If you’re in primary school in Dallas when a team wins in Raleigh … forget it.”

His point is pretty direct. The Cup has long been considered a sacred symbol of what a team sacrifices to win. Putting non-contributors on it — especially owners’ family members — rubs a lot of hockey fans the wrong way.

Owners have done this before. That doesn’t make it better.

Fans online were split. Some pointed out that Dundon is far from the first NHL owner to engrave his family. It’s been a quiet tradition for decades. Owners technically have discretion over the list of names submitted to the Hockey Hall of Fame. The team pays for the engraving. So legally? Nothing wrong here.

But others said tradition doesn’t make it right. The Cup is supposed to represent the players and the people who actually worked for it, not the owner’s family tree. One fan noted that the engraving space is literally finite — those lines could have gone to equipment staff, trainers, or front office employees who were in the building every day.

The Hurricanes beat the Vegas Golden Knights in six games last month to win the franchise’s second Stanley Cup. The trophy now sits with the team’s name and all those Dundon names etched in silver forever. Whether that sits right with fans is a different story.

Johnston didn’t back down from his take. The team has not commented on the backlash.