Of course, you can remove it and of course Nova has been my staple for 5 years. Although with my Z2, I tried to go cold turkey with no Nova and so far, I'm not missing it too much. Nova got a little weird on me towards the end of my T2 run so I wanted to try stock. I'm sure I'll go back eventually.
I still want to know where that 'dude' put his dialer icon.
most third party launchers are good. though in the different forums Nova is considered one of the best. I use smart launcher 3 myself and have for several years.
that is the thing about launchers, if you don't like the way the stock works or looks, just change it.