Maybe I’m misunderstanding the concern here...
It appears to me that the hold up is due to being uncomfortable with the idea that a player such as Wayne Gretzky, for example, could go against a player such as Wayne Gretzky on another team/era. If so, shouldn’t you also be concerned that potentially some of your players are alive and will be facing off against some players who are dead? Or, is that more plausible?
Sorry, couldn’t resist...