Amongst the ranks of Phil Esposito, Cam Neely, Johnny Bucyk, Ken Hodge, and David Pastrnak, Middleton reflects,
"Yeah, that's a nice, nice elite group. Even in the league, I think there's less than 100 players that ever hit 50 goals. So I'm pretty proud of that." Humorously recounting his personal experience, Middleton adds, "I joked that I got 51 one year, and the next year, I got 49. So I average it out to two years. The NHL doesn't see it that way. I needed two goals in the last game for 50, and I got one. I shouldn't have pulled it that close."