SINCE BIG SCORERS ARE GONE, WINGS WILL KEY ON `D'.(SPORTS)

Byline: PETE DOUGHERTY Staff writer

GLENS FALLS In his words, Newell Brown ``had the best of both worlds.'' His Adirondack Red Wings had the American Hockey League's second-best goals-against total last season, yet they also were the second-highest-scoring team.

``There's nothing better than having a whole bunch of guys who can score,'' Brown said, ``who are committed to team defense.''

He may show more appreciation for that this year. The Red Wings, who begin their 16th AHL season Friday night at Rochester, on the surface don't appear to have the snipers who can match last year's 333-goal total.

Gone is 52-goal scorer Mark Pederson (signed by Dallas but still sidelined with shoulder injury). Ditto 84-point man Steve Maltais (released by Edmonton; signed by Chicago of International Hockey League). And 25-goal producer Mike Maurice (Houston, IHL). Along with rookie center Brett Harkins (signed by the Boston organization) and his 22 goals.

Right wing Martin Lapointe (28 goals in 25 games) and defenseman Jason York (56 assists) likely have earned spots with the parent club in Detroit. AHL scoring leader Tim Taylor (117 points), still in Detroit's training camp, would have to clear waivers if the Wings want him in Adirondack. The same with rugged winger Craig Martin, who accumulated a team-leading 297 penalty minutes yet still had 39 points.

``Right now,'' said Brown, beginning his third season as Adirondack coach (81-62-17), ``I don't know if we're going to score as many goals as we did last year, I don't know if we're going to be as offensively explosive, but I can see the framework of a team that is going to work extremely hard.''

Given his druthers, Brown would take defense first. The same is true in Detroit, though defensive guru Scotty Bowman coached what wound up as the NHL's highest-scoring team.

By principle, Bowman has vowed to shore up Detroit's defense. By necessity, Brown will need to keep Adirondack's goals-against average down.

``From my perspective, if you can build your team from the goal out, you give yourself a real good foundation,'' Brown said. ``Right now, we can, because we have two outstanding young goaltenders.''

Kevin Hodson (20-10-5) had the league's second-best goals-against average last year (2.94) and was robbed in the Rookie of the Year voting. He'll be joined by Norm Maracle, Detroit's sixth-round draft choice in 1993 who's still a week away from his 20th birthday.

The defense is manned by most of the players who helped Adirondack win the regular-season Northern Division championship a year ago: Gord Kruppke (2-911), Jamie Pushor (1-1718), Dmitri Motkov (2-1416) and probably Aaron Ward (4-1216), who was still in Detroit as of the weekend. The only one missing, besides York, is captain Bob Bougner (8-1422), who signed with Florida.

``We have a real good nucleus there,'' Brown said.

Joining this crew is an 18-year-old Russian, Yan Golubovsky, who was Detroit's top draft pick (23rd overall) in June.

An intriguing pot of forwards will try to keep the Wings aloft on offense. The top returning scorer is right wing Joe Frederick (28-3058), who ranked sixth on Adirondack. Left wing Mike Casselman (17-3855) was eighth.

Two successful AHL players were signed as free agents: Jason Miller (22-5375), the Albany River Rats' captain last season, and Andrew McKim (13-2437), who played in Providence with the Bruins. Both are centers.

Rookies Jason McDonald, Curtis Bowen, Sylvain Cloutier and Kurt Miller ``are going to play regularly on our forward lines,'' according to Brown.

``We're going to have to work real hard at creating offense,'' Brown said. ``We're a team that can be effective in the transition game, as well.

``Mike Casselman can score 20-25 goals,'' Brown said. ``Joe Frederick scored 11 goals in the playoffs last year. Joe can score 40-50 goals in this league, I believe. Andrew McKim can score 40-50 goals. Jason Miller has had 20-plus-goal seasons in the American Hockey League.

``If our rookies can play real solid and chip in a few here and there, we have the capability to put some numbers together. We just have some unanswered questions right now in terms of who's going to do it.''

One thing seems certain: The odds of getting a Lapointe or a Greg Johnson or a Dallas Drake sent to Adirondack because of overcrowding in Detroit appears unlikely, unless they're sent down because of the NHL's threatened delay of the regular season.

``Detroit's not as deep as they were last year,'' Brown said. ``They don't have Sheldon Kennedy, Dallas Drake, Bob Probert, guys like that. In the past, Detroit's had about 55 players under contract. Now, Detroit has only 45 players under contract. Players up top are getting paid so much money, you have to trim the costs of salaries somewhere, and Detroit, like everybody else, just doesn't have as many under contract.''