Pickleball craze has officially reached the Stanley Cup. The coveted NHL trophy stopped by the Veolia Pickleball National Championships in Cary, North Carolina, on Thursday to surprise fans.The Cup took center court during the event and posed with some of the pros who are competing for the pickleball national championship. Carolina Hurricanes players Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Jalen Chatfield were in attendance with Lord Stanley, and even got in on the pickleball action themselves.The Hurricanes teammates also selected the order of a fantasy football draft out of the Cup, live from the pickleball event.The Hurricanes will begin their title defense on Tuesday, Sept. 29 (5 p.m. ET; ESPN) against the Florida Panthers to officially drop the puck on the 2026-27 NHL season.
