Is retiring 2 people who had the same jersey # allowed in the NHL?

Question

The New York Rangers are going to retire 3 NYR greats this season.

Those 3 are Adam Graves, Andy Bathgate, and Harry Howell.

Both Graves and Bathgate wore #9 and the rangers said they are going to retire their jersey numbers.

http://rangers.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=379928

I know that once a number is retired that number is not allowed to be used again unless the person who has that number retired gives permission to the person who is asking to wear that number.

In this case Graves was able to wear Bathgate's #9 long after Bathgate was no longer with the Rangers after the 63-64 season.

Answer 1

Montreal retired #12 worn by Yvan Cournoyer and Dickie Moore. There were other players who wore the same number but these 2 were generally considered to be "legends". When Dickie Moore retired, the only 2 numbers which had been retired at that time were 3 and 7 (and possibly 9 but I'm not sure of when 9 was retired.) Until about 20 years ago, it was extremely unusual for a number to be retired (in part because having football numbers was not considered proper by the old guard owners so teams tried for a long time to avoid losing usable numbers - lower than the high 20s). Toronto still refuses for the most part to retire numbers). But as time went on and the marketing "savvy/greed?" of the NHL increased, the (newer) owners realized that retiring numbers could be a big promotional gimmick. When Ken Dryden wore 31 it was (I seem to recall) almost the only number higher than 25 or 26 to have been worn by a Canadien to that time.  So when retiring numbers became the rage, it had to be a judgment which players - other than the most recent one- would be honoured. In many cases, the former stars are dead or forgotten so it's a moot point. In certain cases, such as Moore and Cournoyer,  Graves and Bathgate, overlooking the older star player would be a marketing blunder rather than a bonanza.

Answer 2

See my answer to your next question.  I had no idea this could be done, but I just got two more points.  :)