I like Boro. Not necessarily a guy I would want in my top 6 D, but I like him. Problem is, he contributes little. It doesn't matter how hard you're willing to work if your hard work produces mediocre-at-best results. He throws the occasional big hit, but never anything earth shattering the likes of which Volchenkov could do, and I've yet to see him make a hip check like Methot could. As for people comparing him to Neil... just... no. At Boro's age, Neil was already both a better fighter and overall player, and because he wasn't a defenseman, when Neil did go to make an overly risky hit, it was far less likely to turn into a goal in our net. On top of that, even in his last days as an NHL player, Neil was still the better fighter. Boro is tough, and he's willing to fight anyone, but a willingness to get your ass kicked over and over again isn't always useful. Having the one guy on the ice who nobody else could beat is useful. Neil could be that, Boro can't.
As for a culture change? Well, sure, but let's examine something. When was the last time we were CONSISTENTLY good? Probably the lead up to the 2007 finals, right? We haven't been consistently good since then, but before that were we one of the best teams in the league for years. What has changed in that time?
General Manager has changed, twice.
Captain has changed, twice.
ALL of the players on the roster at that time are now gone, so the players have all changed.
Head coach has changed a billion times (before you try to correct me on this, its called hyperbole, look it up).
Fans? No real impact on the locker room culture.
But who IS still left over from that time. One guy:
Melnyk.
He bought a team that was already great, and since then, we've reached the point where people talk about moving our team, players who love the city and are loved by the city have been driven out, sometimes twice over (Alfie). Melnyk bought a great team, and has successfully turned it into the biggest embarrassment in the league. Some of you might say "Buffalo!" "Edmonton!" "Arizona!" "The Islanders!" No. Buffalo has at least got other major pro sports teams to either tide the fans over or share in the anger. Edmonton has a rich history that doesn't date back to a time before colour TV, and have one of the best players in the world signed for a long while. Arizona are in the desert where a majority of people probably don't care, which cushions their embarrassment. And at least the Islanders TRIED to sign their superstar without then trying to assassinate his character - though to be fair, Tavares already did that to himself a bit by going to the evil empire, of all teams.
Melnyk is the common denominator. EVERYONE else has been blamed and scapegoated. Coaches, players, captains, management, hell someone probably tried to blame the zamboni drivers. Melnyk is the ONLY common denominator since this team went from threatening to win the conference every year to struggle to even see first round play offs in consecutive seasons. Culture Change hasn't come from anyone else, and he's the only guy left. He's the only person who hasn't suffered the consequences of failure after failure after failure. That culture will not change while he's around.
