Michael Chaput knows better than to set his expectations too high.

“The team’s, they can talk to you all they want, but they can’t really promise you anything right now,” Chaput said. “Anything can happen at the draft. You can’t go in there with any expectations, because if something bad happens, or for some reason teams don’t pick you, you can’t really set too many goals or expectations.”

The fact that he’s flying out to California on Friday morning, however, says enough.

Chaput is one of five Lewiston Maineiacs hoping to hear their names called this weekend as the National Hockey League conducts its annual entry draft in Los Angeles.

“It’s much different than the junior draft, much bigger, obviously,” Chaput said.

Chaput is rated No. 78 by Central Scouting among North American skaters, which would land him squarely in the third round. The Carolina Hurricanes selected his brother, Stefan, in the fifth round of the 2006 NHL entry draft. This time, Michael said, is a bit different.

“My brother was at home when he found out he’d been drafted,” Michael Chaput said. “This is different; I will be there if they call me.”

Chaput’s teammates will be waiting in anticipation, as well. Matthew Bissonette, Stefan Fournier, Sam Carrier and Jess Tanguy are all draft-eligible for the first time.

“We could have five guys drafted; we could have just one,” Lewiston GM Roger Shannon said. “If I were a betting man, I would say that Michael Chaput will be drafted, just knowing the level of interest there has been in him. There has been interest in the four other guys, as well, but there’s no guarantee. If there were nine or 10 rounds, I would say no question all five would go.”

Shannon wasn’t shy about offering his opinion on whether they all should be drafted, though.

“Of course I think they all should be drafted,” Shannon said. “But at this point, what I think doesn’t amount to a hill of beans to the guys actually doing the selecting.”

Tanguy (No. 191 among North American skaters) and Carrier (No. 203) are the only other two skaters ranked by Central Scouting.

Shannon was particularly surprised about Bissonette’s omission.

“I know there are a lot of teams out there who should probably take a hard look at a kid with this much talent, a 6-foot, 3-inch centerman with the skill set he has,” Shannon said.

Bissonette led draft-eligible Quebec Major Junior Hockey League players in scoring after Jan. 1 with 31 points (tied with Rimouski’s Petr Straka, who is rated in the first round).

Drafted or not, Shannon said, the fact that so many Maineiacs are even under consideration speaks well of the organization.

“It means we have extreme depth at a certain age group,” Shannon said.

He also said he expects any players who are not drafted this year to be that much hungrier for next season.

“If a player isn’t drafted, he’s probably going to have a better year in a way,” Shannon said. “It’s going to be a factor to drive him to work harder to get drafted next year.”