Godynyuk played parts of five seasons in the
Soviet Union before coming to
North America to join the Maple Leaf organization. He made his
NHL debut for Toronto in the
1990–91 season, appearing in 18 games. He played in 31 more games for the Maple Leafs in the
1991–92 season before being traded to the
Calgary Flames in a ten-player deal which brought
Doug Gilmour to Toronto. Godynyuk was selected from the Flames by the
Florida Panthers in the
1993 NHL Expansion Draft. He would move on to the
Hartford Whalers midway through the
1993–94 season, and would stay there for the remainder of his NHL career. The Phoenix Coyotes played their first game in franchise history against the Whalers on October 5, 1996. In that game, Godynyuk scored the first goal ever against the Coyotes. Godynyuk left the NHL after the
1996–97 season. He played in the
International Hockey League with the
Chicago Wolves for one season, and then went to
Europe to play in
Switzerland's
Nationalliga A and
Germany's
Deutsche Eishockey Liga before retiring following the 2000–01 season. Godynyuk represented Ukraine at the
1999 IIHF World Championship. In his NHL career, Godynyuk played in 223 games. He recorded ten goals and 39 assists. He has two daughters, named Elizabeth and Paulina. ==Awards and honors==