Alexander Godynyuk

Oleksandr Olehovych Hodyniuk (; born January 27, 1970), known commonly as Alexander Godynyuk is a Ukrainian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He was drafted in the sixth round, 115th overall, by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1990 NHL entry draft.

Career 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 Directorate Award (Best Defenseman) and All-Star Selection, 1990 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1986–87 Sokil Kyiv USSR 9 0 1 1 2 — — — — — 1986–87 ShVSM Kyiv USSR II 11 0 2 2 6 — — — — — 1987–88 Sokil Kyiv USSR 2 0 0 0 2 — — — — — 1987–88 ShVSM Kyiv USSR II 22 4 2 6 20 — — — — — 1988–89 Sokil Kyiv USSR 30 3 3 6 12 — — — — — 1988–89 ShVSM Kyiv USSR II 9 3 0 3 18 — — — — — 1989–90 Sokil Kyiv USSR 37 3 2 5 31 — — — — — 1990–91 Sokil Kyiv USSR 19 3 1 4 20 — — — — — 1990–91 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 18 0 3 3 16 — — — — — 1990–91 Newmarket Saints AHL 11 0 1 1 29 — — — — — 1991–92 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 31 3 6 9 59 — — — — — 1991–92 Calgary Flames NHL 6 0 1 1 4 — — — — — 1991–92 Salt Lake Golden Eagles IHL 17 2 1 3 24 — — — — — 1992–93 Calgary Flames NHL 27 3 4 7 19 — — — — — 1993–94 Florida Panthers NHL 26 0 10 10 35 — — — — — 1993–94 Hartford Whalers NHL 43 3 9 12 40 — — — — — 1994–95 Hartford Whalers NHL 14 0 0 0 8 — — — — — 1995–96 Hartford Whalers NHL 3 0 0 0 2 — — — — — 1995–96 Springfield Falcons AHL 14 1 3 4 19 — — — — — 1995–96 Detroit Vipers IHL 7 0 3 3 12 — — — — — 1995–96 Minnesota Moose IHL 45 9 17 26 81 — — — — — 1996–97 Hartford Whalers NHL 55 1 6 7 41 — — — — — 1997–98 Chicago Wolves IHL 50 5 11 16 85 1 0 0 0 0 1998–99 SC Bern NDA 43 9 16 25 20 5 1 0 1 2 1999–2000 Eisbären Berlin DEL 48 6 19 25 42 — — — — — 2000–01 Eisbären Berlin DEL 36 5 6 11 12 — — — — — USSR totals 97 9 7 16 67 — — — — — NHL totals 223 10 39 49 224 — — — — — IHL totals 119 16 32 48 202 1 0 0 0 0

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1987 Soviet Union EJC 7 0 3 3 6 1988 Soviet Union EJC 6 0 0 0 4 1989 Soviet Union WJC 7 0 1 1 2 1990 Soviet Union WJC 7 3 2 5 4 1998 Ukraine WC Q 3 1 0 1 0 1999 Ukraine WC 3 0 0 0 0 Junior totals 27 3 6 9 16