Autumn flowering witch hazel -why??

I have a witch hazel in my new garden. It’s been badly treated (lollipopped, like all the other shrubs, gggrrrr!).  Some stems are in full bloom now, with rather small yellow flowers along their length, not a lot of scent. The others have lots of buds as you would expect at this time of year ready for opening in early spring.  The leaves on the flowering branches are slightly different from the others, they turn yellow and fall, whereas the leaves on the non-flowering branches are a beautiful orange before they fall. Would the flowering stems be suckers do you think, and should I cut them right back? Any advice would be welcome.