As far as pelletizing the previous year whole cones, I still see no evidence what you say is true. I have an $11,000 hop contract and they are all from 2014 harvest. I found a few hops from the 2013 harvest, but not many. And I wasn't impressed by the price so I didn't get them. I would think that it there were so many whole cones on the market that needed to be pelletized that there would be a much better variety. But there simply is not.
I have heard about this practice from more than one person, one of which used to work for a major hop broker. The reason why the end of last year's whole cone crop is pelletized is to increase shelf life and reduce storage space.
While commercial contracts may state year of harvest, few hop brokers specify the year of harvest on their home brew trade products; hence, there is no way to determine if the hops were harvested last fall or three years ago. I also believe that the home brew trade is still getting hops that are either culled by commercial brewers or surplus to their needs. The best hops still go to the brewers with the deepest pockets and strictest requirements. The home brew trade is at the bottom of the pecking order. This dynamic can be seen at harvest time when the status of a cultivar that had a scheduled harvest date is changed to will not be available for sale this season.
I think that some of this goes both ways. With the demand today, some hops are sold out, and there won't be any left. Others such as CTZ, may have leftovers and will be pelletized or made into extract.
The brewers go to the farmers and select hops from lots on the table. They get first pick to fill their contracts, and some of those are pretty cheap per pound most years. The brokers have contracts too, and they get their selections. What filters down to the homebrewers in the LHBS trade is the leftovers.
As a side comment, there are some hops that are not exactly what you are thinking they are. Packages of "Hallertau" is whatever they have. Ron Pattinson has said that EKG is often a blend of the hops on hand. Every now and then someone asks online about very high AA on Hallertau or EKG that is outside the range for those, and one could guess how that happened.
Edit - Yakima Chief is running the pelletizer though out the year to meet orders.
http://yakimachief.com/index.php/aboutus/hop-process-div/