NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Thursday Tom Dundon will not be moving the Carolina Hurricanes once he becomes the team's majority owners.

"I want to address one matter about as crystal clear and as absolute terms as I can: Tom Dundon is buying his interest in the Hurricanes to have the Hurricanes in Carolina," Bettman said, per NHL.com. "This is not a team that is being moved. The rumors that it might be moving somewhere else are absolutely incorrect, made up, fabrications, wrong, wrong, wrong."

Dundon, a Dallas-based billionaire, received approval from the NHL's board of governors on Thursday to purchase the Raleigh-based team from Peter Karmanos. Dundon is purchasing 52 per cent of the franchise, though the purchasing agreement will include an option for Dundon to buy the remaining 48 per cent in three years.

“The club is not going anywhere with Mr. Dundon’s purchase, and for those of you who know geography, the fact that he lives in Dallas and that happens to be in the same state as Houston has nothing to do with anything,” said Bettman. “He’s buying the club to have it in Carolina. I want to be crystal clear on this because it’s really not fair to the players, the fans or anybody in the (Research) Triangle that this rumor has started. It’s just not accurate.”

Dundon told TSN on Thursday he does not have any plans to move the franchise, while Karmanos said he was only looking to sell to an owner who would keep the team in North Carolina.

"It was very important [to find a buyer who would keep the team in Raleigh]," Karmanos told TSN on Thursday. "But, it was never a real consideration, the consideration was 'Am I going to buy a franchise that operates in Raleigh,' not 'Buy a franchise I can perhaps move somewhere else.' The league is not amenable to moving franchises at all. "