RALEIGH, N.C. — Tom Dundon walked slowly through the Carolina Hurricanes’ home dressing room, stopping every so often to offer fist bumps and words of support amid the celebration.In one hand behind his back, the billionaire owner held three hats labeled “2026 Eastern Conference Champs,” souvenirs for family and friends who joined him to watch Friday’s Game 5 against the Montreal Canadiens. He chatted with forward Taylor Hall, the opening goal-scorer in a 6-1 rout that clinched the Canes’ first Stanley Cup Final appearance in two decades. He stood next to an emotional Frederik Andersen as the goaltender was honored by teammates as their player of the game, a day after the death of Andersen’s agent and friend, Claude Lemieux.Wearing a black hoodie, black track pants and a pair of well-worn white Nikes, Dundon was firmly out of the limelight following the biggest win in the Hurricanes’ recent history. And yet, again and again, players and staffers lauded him as an integral part of their accomplishment.Eight years ago, the Dallas-based Dundon, who made his fortune in subprime auto lending, bought a downtrodden NHL franchise in Carolina and swiftly put his stamp on its operations. Now, after the league’s first 12-1 start to a postseason in 50 years, the Hurricanes are four wins away from their second Stanley Cup championship, with Game 1 against the Vegas Golden Knights set for Tuesday night.“I give him tons of credit,” coach Rod Brind’Amour said of Dundon. “We’ve been pretty solid ever since he showed up on the scene.”“He’s given everything he can to get us our best chance,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. “(He) changed it right from the start.”“He’s always looking for ways to chart an even better course,” general manager Eric Tulsky added.But the love-in from Dundon’s hockey team stands in stark contrast to the reception he’s received — not to mention the reputation he’s gained — as the new owner of another major-league franchise some 2,400 miles west of Raleigh.After years of coveting an NBA team, Dundon’s $4.25 billion bid to buy the Portland Trail Blazers was formally approved by the league’s Board of Governors on March 30, two months before the Hurricanes reached the summit of their sport. Before long, though, he had become a massive lightning rod, with reports of his unusual cost-cutting measures drawing national backlash: During the Blazers’ first-round playoff series, a five-game loss to the eventual Western Conference-champion San Antonio Spurs, The Ringer’s Bill Simmons memorably branded Dundon as “El Cheapo.”To many who have worked with Dundon in hockey, whether on the Hurricanes or from the vantage point of the NHL’s league office, this recent avalanche of criticism from the basketball world has come as a surprise. In speaking for this story, they provided many colorful words to describe a man laser-focused on both winning games and eliminating inefficiencies — including “demanding,” “intense,” “data-driven” and “obsessive.” But “cheap” was not something any of them had experienced.“The fact of the matter is, he doesn’t always do things in traditional ways,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said. “I think in some ways he’s a bit of a disruptor, but he’s extraordinarily creative and effective. And the results in Carolina — they’re both on and off the ice.”Earlier on Friday night, Dundon flew into Raleigh via private jet and arrived at Lenovo Center mere minutes before the start of Game 5. As he did, he sent a cryptic text containing only a luxury suite number and the words, “I’m walking in.”Moments later, with the puck drop nearing, Dundon stood in a private box that was packed with Hurricanes jerseys and poised to erupt. There, in a rare recent instance of him granting an interview request, the two-team owner spoke to The Athletic about the storm that’s swirled around him since he bought the Blazers.It’s clear from our conversation that Dundon was caught off-guard by the criticism over his early decisions in Portland, which included replacing free T-shirts for fans at home playoff games with towels and, in an unprecedented-for-the-NBA move, not traveling with its two-way players to San Antonio for the start of the first round. (Dundon later apologized for the latter.) But, in reflecting on what he would do differently, he only expressed regret about the timing.“If there were little changes that I thought were going to get out, that were going to create drama in the middle of the (NBA) playoffs, I wouldn’t have done it,” he said. “That was the main thing.”Overall, continued Dundon, whose net worth is estimated at $2.3 billion by Forbes, any perceived belt-tightening is really driven by another simple goal: “I don’t make the decisions to save money. I make the decisions to win.”Dundon brought a similar mindset to Raleigh after buying a controlling stake in the Hurricanes in 2018, and it ruffled feathers then, too. Some staff voluntarily left the organization after deciding that the new owner’s brash ways weren’t for them, while others departed as financial casualties, such as beloved local broadcasters Chuck Kaiton and John Forslund.