Interesting. My issue with the entire argument however is that there isn't any proof or evidence of what you say. All there is is speculation and assumptions. It's why YOU think the game has been canceled, but it's based on the fact that we know nothing. You take that knowing of nothing and extrapolate it to mean there are no dungeons made, everything is pre-alpha, there is no direction, yada yada. You don't actually KNOW any of that - you're assuming that based on the scant details, the fact there are scant details, and the fact EA cares about fan feedback.
I think you present a nice display of your opinion, but unfortunately it has a huge lack of information to back up the assumptions and claims. No surprise, given the huge lack of information there is for this title at all - which may be the biggest point of relevance to your argument. But then, we can't ignore they have stated time and time again last year the game is still being made for Wii U. That they were confident in saying 2016. That Nintendo has listed it as a 2016 title in their latest financial briefing. That it was really just 3 months ago we saw a 13 second clip of the game (showing it's still being worked on).
So I'll address the overarching point of your piece here and offer the counter argument based on the scant details we know.
Well, at this point, after doing some research, doing some thinking, watching a video on youtube, taking some more time to think, I've come to the conclusion that Zelda U isn't going to have a timeline placement at all. Or, it hasn't even really been set in stone yet by Nintendo themselves. Which is exactly the reason why this game can't release this year, why it was a bad idea for Nintendo to show off the game way too soon, why they should've waited until 2018 to show off the game and release it in 2019 for the NX.
Zelda U will most certainly have a timeline placement, and while it may not be set in stone just yet (which is possible), that really has nothing to do with the game releasing. Months before Tri Force Heroes came out, Nintendo said it was on the timeline but the exact placement wasn't set. Reality is, unless the story itself relies heavily on a prior game, you don't necessarily need to have a timeline setpiece in place. Each game stands on its own, so it is entirely possible to create the entire story without needing to have it tie to the timeline just yet. That's easily something they can include in a prologue done much closer to release. They've done this in the past.
Timeline placement matters to us, but it's honestly the least important aspect of creating a Zelda game for the developers. So it doesn't matter if it has a place picked right now. It's irrelevant to 99% of the game's creation.
It was certainly a bad move to show the game off in 2014. As bad as the backlash would be for no Zelda, it's worse to show it off and then wait a year+ to see anything again. They could ahve took the same teaser combined with the Aonuma and Miyamoto Game Awards footage and move all that E3 last year, with the 13 second clip late last year and then a huge unveiling for the release year this E3. If EA is to be believed, the delay itself was to add more content and ideas into the game. Sure, in that process it made include a port to NX, but that's a different conversation. Waiting until 2018 to unveil and release it in 2019 when it's going to be finished in 2016 is weird. The game isn't going to need a 7 year development cycle. All of your arguments for this stem from opinions and assumptions. Not knowledge. For all we know, the game itself may have been close to complete last year, but they wanted to hold off to add more content to the overworld after the feedback from the TGA's - that seems far more likely given EA saying he cares about fan feedback so much. If it's ported to teh NX, that's simply because Nintendo is releasing it this year and it makes logical sense to do so.
But, it's coming this year. the lack of information can be scary, but E3 is going to blow the lid off on this title.