My take on all of the news is that Google has decided they need to "skin" Android like all other phone manufacturers do to differentiate with their own creative features. Not to say it will look significantly different from 7.0 stock, but they are making changes that won't come to 7.1 on "pure android" devices. With Nexus confirmed dead, the only "vanilla" android will exist in AOSP. In a couple years, you could argue that Pixel phones have pure Android as Google intends it, but now in this transitional period, owners of the latest Nexus devices are left out in the cold. We now have a style of Android (stock) that Google no longer cares about. We won't get timely updates (at least for 7.1), we won't get new features, and I wouldn't be surprised to see support dropped sooner than expected a year ago. What makes this sting the most is that the Nexus line has really been the only hardware Google has made that you could count on them giving you what they promised before the dropped it, with the exception of the Nexus Q.
Skip year. 2016 is really a skip year with the iPhone and real Pixel coming next year. Great timing since my 6P is perfectly great.