Burnside: Sitting Down With Tom Dundon

RALEIGH, NC. -The owner of the Carolina Hurricanes is standing in the team's locker room talking to GM Don Waddell and soon-to-be Carolina Hurricanes Hall of Famer Cam Ward.

The room is buzzing with Ward's special ceremony just minutes away.

In two days', time Tom Dundon will make his way across the parking lot to Carter-Finley Stadium and watch his team play in their first-ever outdoor game.

Outside of the team's seminal Stanley Cup run in 2006, this might be the most important week in franchise history. And if not most importantly, certainly one of the most joyous weeks in the team's 25-year history in North Carolina.

Dundon grabs a bowl of soup as the players prepare for their contest against the Montreal Canadiens on Ward's special night. Some acknowledge Dundon with a fist bump or nod or quick greeting.

There is an obvious comfort in all of this that belies the relatively short period of time Dundon has owned the franchise. Although he just celebrated his fifth anniversary as team owner, Dundon has become intimately involved in the draft process and is in almost constant contact with Waddell from his long-time home in Texas on all manner of team business. There is a brand new practice facility. And there are plans for a major development of the land around PNC Arena.

Elite players like defenseman Brent Burns and Max Pacioretty are anxious for an opportunity to play in Raleigh, agreeing to waive no-trade, no-move clauses to become a Hurricane.

All of this would have been unthinkable in the past. But that's the funny thing about time, it's malleable.

The decade of playoff futility between 2009 and 2019 seems a distant memory. For new fans of this franchise who have known only Dundon as owner, Waddell as GM, and Rod Brind'Amour as head coach, they have known only playoff runs and a team that spends to the salary cap every year in pursuit of a second Stanley Cup to bookend the one won in 2006 in Ward's rookie season.

We caught up with Dundon to talk about what has transpired over the course of five frenetic seasons, the Stadium Series game against Washington and what might lie ahead.

Scott Burnside: When you think back five years and you first came in here, and maybe you first came in this locker room, what's it like to come in on a night like tonight, Cam's night, and with what will happen on Saturday?

Tom Dundon: So, the first time I walked in, it was pre-season before I bought the team. There was nobody here. And there weren't 2,500 people in the building I don't think. And this is where the coaches' office was. It was a tiny little closet. And I walked in, and I'll never forget, Rod turned to look at me. He's got this big, grizzled face. And the locker room was terrible, I couldn't believe that this was a professional sports team. So, yeah, my first impression was, what the? What's going on here?

Burnside: Even then in your looking around are you already thinking of the possibilities? Can you see what you might want to start to do even at that point?

Dundon: I have a way I like to do things and it wasn't like I walked in that day and said that I knew what to do. I just knew that there was a process that you could go through that I think could lead to success. It didn't ever cross my mind that we wouldn't be able to fix it, whatever that means, that we would have the confidence that we would be good. How good? That's harder to know. But I knew we could do better and that we would be really good. I never doubted that.

Burnside: Is it because you believed in the process and believed in the people that you wanted, whether it was Don or Rod or whoever it was that you envisioned being part of this 'team' not just the players, but the team, that made you optimistic?

Dundon: I think there's a set of decisions you make and you make them consistently every day. You push hard every day and that should lead to success in most cases. So, yeah, that seemed like a certain outcome. The outcome that was uncertain was if we started winning, how high up could you get? I'm not saying I thought we would have, I think we've got one of the better records the last five years, whether winning and winning as much as we've done, those are two different things. And the third thing is whether you ultimately end the year as the winner, that's less controllable. But I knew the things we could control we would do really well, or I thought we would.

Burnside: Have there been things that have surprised you about owning this team? Things that you didn't know or maybe things that you've learned through the five years?

Dundon: I thought that the coach would be more connected to the culture, and I think that's true, but I think it's probably even more important than I realized. So I think the part that I probably learned is if we hadn't done that, (hired Brind'Amour), I think that variable had a bigger impact, and it was more important than I probably would have known at the time. I always thought it was important. I think part of the upside from my expectations was probably because I was very fortunate there (with the Brind'Amour hire).

Burnside: But you identified what Rod would bring to the process.

Dundon: Sort of. He was here, though. I mean didn't go searching for him. He was here.

Burnside: When you think about the things that have been accomplished and the winning, does it affect you differently than you thought it was going to? I mean you're involved in the draft and trade deadline and things like that, has it been different than you imagined it, the highs and the lows?

Dundon: The problem for me, and I think Rod is the same way, is the losing. Even winning and not, like even after [Tuesday night vs. Washington] it wasn't what you like to see, even though you won. So the way that impacts me, I don't know if it's surprising, but I would hope that over time it gets where you can put it more in perspective and I just can't.

Burnside: Do you have trouble sleeping (after losses)? Does it stay with you?

Dundon: Oh yeah, it stays with me for sure. I hate it. This is supposed to be fun. But it's only fun when you win and play great. And no one gets hurt. And then you start thinking about, well how do we keep this? The hardest part now is keeping it at this level. It's difficult. But you want to keep it.

Burnside: To me that's the great story of this team. For fans who have only known you as the owner and only known Rod as the coach, they may not have a sense of what it's like to go for a decade and not make the playoffs. And yet this culture has been changed in a very short period of time.

Dundon: Yeah, I'm proud and happy with what's been accomplished. I think it's also when you, the people that are doing it, guys like Slavin and Aho and Rod, and you've got all these people that are good people that are working so hard and trying hard. You don't want to let them down. I think there's this cliché that you don't want to let the fans down. It's not that that's not true, it's just that when you actually see people who are working this hard and doing so much then when it doesn't go well then I start feeling like I've let them down. Like what could we do differently? The good's good, but you just don't want to fail or let people down and when you see these people, when we don't do what we want to do at the end of the season, if you don't win that last game, then you know how they feel, too. They can't get that back. So it's hard. That's the hardest part about it but it's also why it's interesting right? Because there's that emotion that is generated across the organization. You know how, when you're capable of winning like we are, and then when you don't it's harder. In the first year you wanted to win. You knew you were getting better and you were probably a little more proud. Now there's only one way to go. Right now. if you don't win you didn't get to what you are capable of.

Burnside: I think every team aspires to being at that level where there is no goal other than winning it all. And there are lots of teams that, geez, if you're halfway decent in some ways that's a goal that some teams set. And this team has moved beyond that.

Dundon: For sure. I agree.

Burnside:When you come here today and you see what's going on next door at Carter-Finley? What's that like for you because, again, that's something that had never happened here before and I think it's a really important statement for this organization and this market.

Dundon: I think it's the same thing where you're kind of proud of being involved with it. We're lucky that it's right there and they worked with us. NC State had to agree to do it, and then when you go over there and you see how good the sight lines are and how intimate it is. The NHL does a really good job sort of making it a big deal and a big event. We wouldn't have been able to pull something like that off. If we had just wanted to do a game we wouldn't have known how to do it to the level that they're doing it. I think those life experiences are interesting. So I think it's really fun. Also for the players, their life as you know gets, they eat the same meal and they come to the same rink and they do the same things. I really like it when they get to have some interesting parts of the season to change it up a little bit. I'm glad about that. Our guys are so committed throughout the whole year. I really enjoy seeing them get to go do something where they feel enriched. That'll they'll have memories and will look back and have loved being here playing for Rod, playing in this environment.

Burnside: I heard a story that you would have tried to put on an outdoor game on your own if you didn't get a Stadium Series game from the league.

Dundon: That's what I said. When we first started talking about it, I understood if you looked at our attendance and you looked at our support and you looked at our track record, why should you believe in this? So let us prove it to you. I always thought it'd be a good idea (to put on an outdoor game on their own). I still probably do. To own the ice rink and be able to do a once-a-year fun game. After seeing what (the NHL) is doing, maybe you do it less often, but bigger. Now that I see how well they're doing it, I might have to walk back whether or not I think it'd be a good idea to do it on our own.

Burnside: When you started talking about having this kind of event, are you surprised that it's happened this quickly into your ownership?

Dundon: Maybe if this had happened three years ago it'd be a little more surprising. But now it's built every year so I sort of expect it. I think we talked about Halloween night we didn't have as big a crowd as we've had every other night. To be disappointed when you're under 17,000, 18,000 people is more fun than being excited to be above 10,000 right? When we used to say 10,000, I don't think there were 10,000 people in here. Now we have no no-shows. And we don't do that stuff so it's pretty good.

Burnside: When you envision what this will look like here at the arena and in the surrounding areas are you optimistic it's going to look like you want it to look like in five or 10 years?

Dundon: Everybody, they're all working really hard. We're pretty committed to doing our part and it feels like everybody is deeply committed to trying to do something that's good for everyone. So yeah, I'm pretty optimistic. I have no reason not to be. And it's a lot of work for a lot of people. A lot of people are doing a lot of work to make it happen. But I think it's going to happen.

Burnside: One final one, do you let yourself think of the Stanley Cup, of what that moment would be like?

Dundon: I don't know even know if I'll be down (in the locker room). It's the players and Rod and all that. I don't think of that moment that way. I think of the process in putting yourselves, let's get the best chance to do it. I've never really thought about it like that. Obviously, it would be fun but I think it's more about if you won one then how do you repeat that process. That's the fun part for me, this process of knowing that you could win it and I think winning it would almost be a relief and then you're just so happy for all the other people.

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