Why are children of Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon named on Stanley Cup? Explaining NHL’s engraving process

Nobody should’ve been surprised to see Tom Dundon’s name engraved on the Stanley Cup. He owns the Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes won the Cup in June. That’s how the process tends to work.Less expected, though, was the engraving of the names of Dundon’s wife, Veruschka, and their children: Caden, Dax, Drew, Blake and Tagan. All seven Dundons were on the Hurricanes’ Cup stamp, revealed by the team’s social media accounts on Wednesday night.

Forever etched in history pic.twitter.com/KpJaNsb5Fz

— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) July 9, 2026The decision to include six of Dundon’s family members among the 53 engraved names, rather than more actual members of the organization who contributed to the Cup victory, was met with bemusement, confusion and anger on social media.Asked on Thursday to explain the team’s decision-making process, a spokesperson said, “We won’t be commenting as an organization.”Here’s what you need to know about the engraving of the Stanley Cup, and why the Hurricanes’ choices marked a departure:How does the engraving process work?Each Stanley Cup-winning team is allowed — space permitting — a maximum of 55 names engraved on the Stanley Cup. That total typically includes a combination of players, coaches, staffers and ownership/front-office members, with the team largely having discretion about which names to engrave. There are 53 names on Carolina’s 2026 engraving, and no team has had the full 55 since the 1997-98 Detroit Red Wings.A story on the NHL website describes eligibility requirements, noting that “a player is required to have appeared in at least 41 regular-season games with a team, or one Stanley Cup Final game, to be eligible to have his name engraved on the trophy. In 1994, a stipulation was added to allow a team to petition the Commissioner for permission to have players’ names put on the Stanley Cup if extenuating circumstances prevented them from being available to play. The management staff engraved on the trophy is determined by the team. However, it must be approved by the Hockey Hall of Fame and NHL.”