Well the first draft did have Crusher being decapitated, perhaps that would have been a more fitting "valentine to the fans"![]()
The first draft had most of the characters dying horrible battle-deaths if I recall.
The early draft was "Riker's throat cut, Data electrocuted, Wesley Crusher decapitated".
I doubt Wesley's decapitation would ever had made it into the finished product.
Personally, I think that we are only around 10 to 15 years from being able to actually replace live actors in scenes with the likenesses of other actors.
And they do have the image of the actor that played Jack Crusher and a fairly long monologue of his voice from the episode "Family".