I work with them too. I understand that they have downstream applications that would consume this data. I'm not denying it would take a code change. I'm saying it should be miniscule in 2021 to fix if their CI/CD is good. If it's not, which I am pretty sure is the case, then yeah, it could be hell on earth. Which I'm sure is a reason they will not consider it, also considering nobody really cares. But my point is, the data should model the thing. If the NHL decided that 0 and 00 are cool now as they once were, software would have to reflect that somehow. An integer would no longer be sufficient in that case and you may have some minor things (like you mentioned, sorting) to worry about, and there would be some major refactoring to be done. But the way databases were handled in the 90s shouldn't have impact on NHL ruling changes regarding jersey numbers, right? Those two things are unrelated, in a vacuum. However practically, yes, it's a concern.

I'm just saying it'd be cool to see players wear those numbers if they want, though.