2026 NHL Draft Profile: Alofa Tunoa (Noa) Ta'amu

I'm going to split this introduction into two separate thoughts that converge on today's player.

First: a lot of my favourite prospects that I wind up profiling for the draft are "glitter guys" – which for those who don't know, is a reference to a player who keeps catching my attention while I'm watching a game for someone else. In Ta'amu's case, he was teammates with Miroslav Holinka on the Edmonton Oil Kings. Boy has he caught my attention a lot this year, in all the right ways.

Second: I've talked many times before about what I value the most in a defenseman. In order of importance, it's basically: defend your blueline and in your own end well, get the puck back, be able to get the puck out with control, drive transitions through the neutral zone, help facilitate offense in the offensive zone, produce points. Boy does that describe Ta'amu a great deal.

THE BASICS: STATS AND CONTEXT

• Position: Left-shot defenseman
• League(s): WHL
• Height: 6'2"
• Weight: 220 lbs
• Birthdate: May 28, 2008

Here are his draft rankings, as of writing this:

• TSN NHL Scout Poll: Not ranked
• Cam Robinson NHL Scout Poll: Not ranked
• Corey Pronman: Not ranked
• Will Scouch: 73rd
• Elite Prospects: Not ranked
• Scott Wheeler: Not ranked
• McKeen's Hockey: Not ranked
• Upside Hockey: Not ranked
• NHL Central Scouting: 109th (North American skaters)

Ta'amu has a fascinating background. His dad, Ed, was a native Hawaiian and Samoan, while his mother was Canadian. His dad was an offensive lineman measuring a massive 6'1" and 380 lbs, and was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL in 2002. Unfortunately, his dad suffered a serious knee injury right after the draft, and never played in a single NFL game after. But he did play some years in the Arena Football League. Noa definitely inherited some of that build, being 6'2" and already well over 200 lbs. But he also inherited his dad's athleticism to go with that size.

In fact, his dad apparently always thought he'd also go into football, but he gave it a try for one year in high school then noped away from the sport. Noa did, however, get strongly into hockey thanks to his maternal grandfather and his dad was traveling for his arena football career. Once his dad's playing career was over, his parents moved to Edmonton to follow Noa's junior hockey career.

I have to share a couple of delightful quotes involving Noa and his dad, because they remind me of the dynamic my dad and I have had at times.

Ta’amu said his son becoming a hockey player allows him to keep bragging rights as the best football player in the family. He recalled that Noa once returned an interception 70 yards for a touchdown as a lineman in his lone season of high school football.

“I’m, like, ‘There’s no way my kid’s better than me in hockey and football,’” he said.

Noa said he laughs when his father boasts about shutting him out when he donned goalie gear for a parent vs. player squirt game in San Diego.

“Well, he kind of takes up the whole net,” he said. “It was kind of hard to score on him when I was young and I could barely lift the puck.”

Anyways, back to Noa's hockey career. As a kid growing up in San Diego, he played in the Los Angeles Jr. Kings program for a few years before he was drafted 3rd overall in the WHL's American Prospects Draft in 2023. He played one season in Okanagan in the WHL's feeder league, before making the full time jump to Edmonton's regular lineup last year. Though he only played in 43 games for his rookie season, he had 6 points playing a depth role. His tracking data from that year is above average defensive impacts and... not good at anything else.

This year, Ta'amu played in 62 games for a very strong Edmonton Oil Kings squad. He had only 12 points in 62 games for them in the regular season, then one goal in the 7 playoff games they played. But his impact on the offense wasn't from producing points, it was from doing the kinds of things I love seeing a defenseman be good at.

As far as Ta'amu's usage, he was used as a workhorse at times from that second pair. He was used to help close out games when they had the lead because of his defense and ability to move the puck well to get it out of his own end safely. He did get occasional powerplay time, but not a lot. It was mostly an experiment at times, maybe to see what he could do for next season – Edmonton was deep on defense this year, especially after the trade deadline when they loaded up, so they had Carter Sotheran, Ethan MacKenzie and Blake Fiddler being ahead of Ta'amu on that depth chart, and two of them will be leaving the WHL after this season.

On the penalty kill, Ta'amu was king. His bulk made him impossible to move by opposing forwards in front of the net, and he had no such problems shoving forwards out of the way of shooting lanes so his goalie could see better. It wasn't solely because of him, but Edmonton did have the fourth best penalty kill percentage as a team this year and he was their top penalty killer.

Aside from that, Ta'amu got a small taste of the international stage when he was named to Team USA's roster for the Hlinka Gretzky tournament and helped them win the gold medal. His ice time per game rose in every single game, from 12:29 in his first game against Slovakia to 18:30 in the gold medal game against Sweden. The coaches raved about the improvements he made just over the five games of the tournament, and they seemed only too happy to reward his play with more ice time.

THE GOOD: PHYSICAL MONSTER, DEFENSE, BREAKOUTS, PUCK MOVEMENT, TWO-WAY POTENTIAL

So Ta'amu is a very strong (in the literal and metaphorical sense) defensive defenseman in all the ways that people traditionally associate with that archetype. That's what he's known most for, and I'll get to the specifics later. For now, I want to dig in on the other areas that are maybe less traditionally considered to be "defensive" skills, but by now you should know I don't paint completely within the lines for that kind of thing.

As I hopefully can show in the tracking data from both Mitch Brown at Elite Prospects, and from Will Scouch, Ta'amu is one of the best defensemen in this draft class in their data sets for driving transitions – especially when exiting the defensive zone. He scans the ice well, and has good vision and anticipation to make a plan ahead of time for what he needs to do to retrieve dump ins and loose pucks, shed any forecheckers, and get it out of his end with control.

Ta'amu's methods aren't the flashiest, but he has a good bag of tricks to use. He'll lure in pressure and invite contact, maybe even initiate it himself with a reverse hit. He's so strong and bulky already that there's no one in junior who can physically push him around. The reason he does that is to create more space for himself, so he can fire off a high volume of short or medium range passes with a high percentage of success. He doesn't typically deke or skate his way out of pressure to drive zone exits, but he doesn't need to.

Even though his point production was low, I also think there's potential in his offense game. Again, not necessarily in his ability to generate points directly, but to help facilitate and support the offense. He likes to activate in to join the offense, but he's not wild and crazy with it. He is not someone you'll be annoyed by when he keeps overthinking his possessions and offensive opportunities. He will make the quick and simple play, which can still be highly effective. He may not ever be a dynamic playmaker or a powerplay QB, but he has a decent shot to generate tips and rebounds, and puck movement that is quick and decisive to get the puck to the forwards who are better equipped to do the damage.

Now let's talk about the elephant in the room, which is actually just Ta'amu himself. This kid is just huge. As of writing this I haven't seen an official update on his dimensions but I've seen some recent scouting reports say he's somewhere between 230 and 240 lbs now. The crazy thing is he doesn't necessarily look that big. He certainly looks legitimately 6'2" but it's not like he looks super bulky, to me at least. He's just dense I guess.

Ta'amu's power and strength are legit. He can shove players around with relative ease, and I don't think that will change once he gets to pro hockey because he has plenty of time to fully mature and grow into his natural body with NHL-level workouts. He is a tank or a freight train on skates, and almost impossible to deal with along the boards or in front of the net. It's a real advantage for him.

Power on its own doesn't equal good defense, but it does create a very good tool when used in the hands of a capable defenseman. Ta'amu is one of the best defenders, both against the rush and in his own end. He has quick lateral edges and solid footwork to maintain a narrow gap, and with his size, power and reach he forces turnovers or dump ins. In his own zone, all those tools I mentioned like his skating, size, reach, scanning and anticipation make him an elite play killer.

THE FLAWS: PUCK HANDLING, FOOT SPEED & AGILITY, INCONSISTENCY

Ta'amu does have some weaknesses that he will need to work on, and I'll mention them in order from most concerning to least.

First, Ta'amu's foot speed and agility can be slow and clunky at times. Working with skating and fitness coaches should help smooth some of this out, and give him better fast-twitch and explosive movements with better mechanics. While his overall mobility is already above average, his ability to play elite level defense at higher levels is contingent on him being able to keep pace with play at those levels. And for that, he'll need to work on this.

The second area of concern is Ta'amu's occasional tendency to become too passive. He'll get caught coasting, watching the puck without reacting in anticipation of what could be happening next, and drifting out of positions. It's not a frequent thing, and his defensive results with this cropping up now and then is still elite, but that's another area where he won't be able to afford these kinds of lapses when he gets to pro hockey.

The final areas are very minor in comparison. They're more about offensive skills like Ta'amu's puck handling, especially in close quarters, being weak. Or his offensive playmaking, actually his overall offensive game now that I think about it, being too simple and predictable. I touched on why I don't really care about this already, but it is something that would help him in other areas if he could improve it after the draft.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

The important thing for me is that Ta'amu already has a solid foundation being as good as he already is at the things I value the most in defensemen. He's at an elite level in junior with some smaller flaws that need fixing so he can maintain that level as he advances to the professional level.

The physical tools that Ta'amu has are no joke, but what I like is that he doesn't just play like a goon. In fact, there were some complaints earlier in the season that he wasn't playing as physical as these people wanted. He does play with an edge, like throwing hits, but he doesn't chase it. He plays smarter than that. If he hits, it's for a purpose... not for it's own sake. That's when his game really took off for the later stages of the season.

The other thing Ta'amu improved on was making his focus more consistent, so those little lapses I mentioned all but disappeared. His hockey sense also seemed to improve by a healthy amount, and his ability to read the play and make quick decisions became very valuable.

I'm actually surprised that I haven't seen very much hype for Ta'amu, given the improvements he made. He may not be 6'4" but he's not exactly short, and as I said he's a physical behemoth in a densely wrapped package. I've only seen one other scout rank him at all (Scouch), and NHL Central Scouting barely ranked him enough to make me think he'd be drafted at all. There may be one or two teams out there who like him enough to make him a "surprise" pick in the middle rounds. Personally, I'd consider him with Toronto's third rounder which is very close to their second rounder. He'd be a project I'd bet on.

Thanks for reading!

I put a lot of work into my prospect articles here, both for the draft and Toronto's prospects. I do it as a fun hobby for me, and I'd probably do it in some capacity even if PPP completely ceased to exist. But if you like reading my work, some support would go a long way! I pay for a few streaming services (CHL, NCAA, USHL, the occasional TSN options for international tournaments that are broadcast) to be able to reliably watch these prospects in good quality streams. I also pay for some prospect-specific resources, such as tracking data and scouting reports from outlets like Elite Prospects, Future Considerations, McKeen's Hockey, The Athletic, and more.

Being able to get paid for this helps me dedicate more time and resources to it, rather than to second/third jobs. And whatever money I make here, a lot of I reinvest back into my prospect work through in those streaming and scouting services. Like I said, I'd be doing whatever I can afford for this anyway, so any financial help I get through this is greatly appreciated!