Poor Joel Nystrom.
Despite playing in 38 games this season for the Stanley Cup-champion Hurricanes, Nystrom’s name wasn’t engraved on the Cup, even though owner Tom Dundon included the names of his five children.
Dundon is facing backlash for the decision, with hockey fans calling the move “disrespectful and shameful.”
“The fact that @Canes owner put 7 family names on the Stanley Cup ahead of any players and in one case of a player who played 38 regular season games, is a disgraceful action in NHL history,” one X user wrote. “What an embarrassment of a team. You can be champions clearly without class.”
Dundon, his wife and kids’ names take up the first two lines of the Cup, before the Hurricanes front office and coaching staff complete the next six rows.
The players completed the last 24 names – players who appeared in at least 41 regular season games or that dressed for a Finals game are guaranteed a spot on the Cup, per NHL rules.
That didn’t apply to Nystrom, who played in just under half the Hurricanes’ games and spent the rest of the season with their AHL affiliate Chicago Wolves.
That he came so close and didn’t make the list while family members did has raised some eyebrows.
Carolina could have made an exception like it seemingly did for Nicolas Deslauriers, who appeared in seven games for the franchise after being acquired midseason and one playoff game in the first round.
Nystrom wasn’t the only notable person excluded, with Bobby Gorman, the Hurricanes’ equipment manager who’s been with the team since 1993 and got a spot on their Cup in 2006, also missing out.
The Hurricanes won their second Stanley Cup in franchise history on June 14 after beating the Golden Knights in six games.
This is the latest drama involving Dundon, who also bought the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers in March and has been panned for his cost-cutting moves with the franchise.
Fans have been piling on him on oscial media.
“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,” one X user wrote.
“What a self serving prick. Shameful,”
