What’s next for Hurricanes’ owner? ‘Our expectations will be a little like this’
Tom Dundon had never owned a major league sports team, but knew people in Dallas who did.
Mark Cuban, for one. He was owner of the Dallas Mavericks and seemed to have fun with it, even if he was a bit outspoken and controversial at times.
Dundon had the money; he’s a billionaire. He had the interest. Peter Karmanos was looking to sell his majority interest in the Carolina Hurricanes. Why not an NHL team?
That was in 2018. Dundon became the new Hurricanes owner and began shaking things up all through the organization, asking questions, making changes.
His goal: win a Stanley Cup.
The Hurricanes did that Sunday in Las Vegas, vanquishing the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0 to close out the Stanley Cup Final in six games for the franchise’s second Cup. And there was Dundon on the ice among all the players and their families, with the look of a very happy, satisfied man.
The first thing Dundon did as owner was promote Rod Brind’Amour to head coach. He didn’t pay him a lot by NHL standards, but gave the Canes’ former captain the chance to be the head guy.
“I’ve got to give him a lot of credit for this whole thing,” Brind’Amour said Sunday. “Number one, he gave me the opportunity, I wouldn’t be sitting here without that. His commitment to trying to build a winner was there. He went out and got us the players and here we are.”
Dundon, in turn, has no doubt that he made the right choice, the right decision in turning over the team to Brind’Amour, who had been an assistant coach, but never a head coach.
“I can’t conceive of success without him,” Dundon said Sunday. “He is literally the most important thing we have in Carolina. He was proud of the Hurricanes when nobody else was. The reason I hired him was he loved the Hurricanes.
“Now he keeps it every day in a way that I know I can be proud and not have to worry. Nobody has to worry about how we’re going to play and if we’re going to have a chance to win and how he’s going to treat people. So we’re very lucky.”
Dundon quickly realized that to be a Stanley Cup contender, a team needed to spend to the NHL’s salary cap. He wanted to put money into the talent on the ice, even if it meant cutting back on other things, which bruised some feelings along the way.
When Eric Tulsky was named Canes general manager, he was given approval by the boss to “swing for the fences” and pursue high-price talent such as Jake Guentzel of the Pittsburgh Penguins or Mikko Rantanen from the Colorado Avalanche.
Neither played for Canes for long, but the deals surrounding Rantanen allowed the Canes to bring in Logan Stankoven and Taylor Hall. Who knew that they’d wind up on a line together with Jackson Blake — Stankoven at center — and become a driving force in the push for the Cup?
Dundon, who has a Type-A personality, has always been one to get antsy and edgy when watching his team play, and especially on the road. He said his stress level did not abate Sunday until Nikolaj Ehlers’ empty net goal gave the Canes a 3-0 lead with 1:08 left in regulation.
“It’s a miserable thing,” Dundon said. “Until that empty-netter goes in, I can’t have any joy.
“That was about the first time I had true happiness in a couple of months, just worrying about the results We’ve been there for a while, we just didn’t get the results. I think we’ve had teams good enough to win for a while.”
And what about next season? How about an encore, he was asked, bringing another grin.
“I think the team will be pretty similar next year,” he said. “Our expectations will be a little like this.”
Dundon has a lot on his plate, which he enjoys. Once the sports franchise neophyte, and considered something of a maverick, he now owns the Hurricanes and the NBA’s Portland Trailblazers. He wants to be a part of the effort to bring Major League Baseball to the Triangle.
Dundon is spearheading the building of an entertainment district outside the Lenovo Center, a development that could cost $3 billion or more.
When Dundon first took over the Hurricanes, home attendance was weak. Winning games helped. Becoming a perennial playoff team helped even more, and the team now sells out its games. Dundon also pushed for achieved another goal of hosting an outdoor game to N.C. State’s Carter-Finely Stadium, and it was hugely successful.
“The big thing is when you win, everybody likes each other and that’s all I wanted,” Dundon said. “I wanted a team you could be proud of and count on every day.”
This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 9:00 AM.
